


Changes

by alayneni



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2017-06-27
Packaged: 2018-05-24 18:45:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 77,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6163033
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alayneni/pseuds/alayneni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven years after the war, Harry, Ron and Ginny have returned to find that life is not as they expected it. Many things have changed both within the Weasley family and the wizarding world. Can they fit back in?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.
> 
> This story was started before Dealthy Hollows was published and I'm now trying to finish the story.

It had been seven years since Harry had set foot on English soil. The war against Voldemort had left him emotionally scared. The hunt for the horcruxes had been difficult. Ron and Hermione had followed him every step of the way right up to the final battle at Hogwarts. The castle had received a great deal of damage and up until six months after the war, when Harry left, the castle was still under repair. Professors Vector, Sinistra, Sprout, Slughorn, Trewlany, Madames Pompfrey and Hooch, Hagrid and Headmistress McGonagall all died at the final battle. He had heard during his travels that Professor Flitwich was the current headmaster of Hogwarts but he didn’t know who took over the other teaching positions.

There was so much pain and suffering both during and after the war. Everywhere Harry turned he saw it. It reached to the point where he couldn’t stand it. He had to leave. He had intended to leave alone but life hadn’t worked out that way. Ron had volunteered to go with him but Harry didn’t want to take him away from his family. They had a long discussion about it but eventually Harry caved. The night they had prepared to leave, Ginny appeared fully packed and ready to go with them. She essentially tricked them into taking her with them.

Hermione did not know they were leaving. Both Ron and Harry agreed that she needed to stay with her muggle parents. She had already devoted too much time to him. He owled her a note after they were far enough away. In the note he said he was leaving for a short time to clear his head. He promised he would be back soon. He hadn’t expected to be gone so long though it could be argued that seven years was a short time since wizards often had a long life. To guarantee his return, he left Hedwig in her care. He remembered telling Hedwig to look after Hermione for him. 

They had toured Europe, both the magical and muggle versions, the first year they were gone. After that they trekked into Asia exploring the different cultures on that continent. They spent a year in Australia before going to South America then North America. The last country they were in before they decided it was time to return home was Egypt.

Harry had learned a lot and matured quite a bit in the last few years. He had learned to deal with his past and cope with the horrors he had seen. He was no longer plagued with the horrible nightmares that left him struggling for breath. He no longer felt the weight of the wizarding world on him but that was not what was driving him home. He had another reason for returning to England.

He knew Ron and Ginny were happy to be home but they were just as nervous as him. They had never contacted anyone while they were away. They expected the family to be angry with them. They expected lots of yelling and accusations and name calling. They were ready for that. They hoped that maybe after a day or two things would settle and they would be forgiven.

With Ron and Ginny on either side of him, he stood in front of the gate to the Burrow. He really did hope that the Weasleys would accept him back after he absconded with the two youngest members of their family. The outer appearance of the Burrow hadn’t changed but that didn’t mean that people that lived there hadn’t. Ginny opened the gate and made her way to the front door. She paused for a second before she lifted her hand and knocked.

The three of them had imagined this moment vividly but they never even considered that the person they were now staring at would answer the door to the Burrow.


	2. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Harry Potter. This was originally written before Deathly Hollows came out but I will incorporate some of the events of that book into the story now.

Harry froze for a second while it registered who the wizard standing before him was. Once he placed the more mature face and short platinum blonde hair to that of Draco Malfoy, he drew his wand. Of all the people he expected to answer the door to the Burrow, Malfoy was not one of them. He remembered an arrogant Slytherin who wouldn't be caught dead at a place like the Burrow, yet here he was very much standing in the entranceway.

They each had a bet on who would answer the door. Ginny thought for sure it would be their mom. She was always home at that time of day. Harry said he thought it might be one of the grandkids. When they left Fleur had just given birth to a baby girl, Nathalie. Ron said he thought it might be one of the twins. Never had they expected it to be **him.**

The moment's hesitation was enough time for Draco to disarm him. Ron and Ginny also tried to draw their wands but Draco was faster, much faster. The Slytherin even summoned their wands into his hand. He stood there smirking at them.

"The famous Harry Potter finally returns and is disarmed in less than a second. One would think you would be able to put up a better fight than that Potter?" Draco goaded.

"Malfoy! What are you doing here?" Ron sneered as he looked at his wand clasped in Malfoy's left hand.

The Slytherin happily waved it in front of them, "what happened, can't do anything without your wands? One would have thought after spending so much time in the muggle world, you would have picked up a few new tricks."

Ron took a swing at Draco but the Slytherin was faster, ducking out of the way. Ron's fist unfortunately collided with the door frame.

"Ow," the redhead wizard cried cradling his hand.

"Guess you're not fast enough either," Draco said before going into a sneezing fit.

Harry, Ron and Ginny immediately took a step away from him.

"Gee, I thought a stuck up elitist pig like you would know to cover his mouth when he sneezes!" Ginny commented sardonically.

Draco glared at her, "I can sneeze on your wand next if you like?"

"Draco!" a women's voice called out from further inside the Burrow interrupting the standoff. "Draco Lucius Malfoy, you get back here this instant!" the female screeched at the top of her lungs, her voice getting closer to them. Neither of them recognized the voice and Harry could swear he saw a flicker of fear pass over Draco's face.

"I hope you don't think you are getting out of his house through **that** door," the woman stated angrily.

In response Draco opened the door wider for her to see the three people at the door. She was tall with short red hair that stopped at her shoulders. She had freckles on her face and beautiful green eyes. Her skin was slightly tan and she had a great figure. She narrowed her eyes at them and glanced briefly back into the Burrow and then back at them. Harry could see a spark of recognition in her eyes.

"Oh my god Draco is that..." she said in an excited voice.

"Yes," Draco said nonchalantly before he decided to do a formal introduction.

"Arianne Weasley meet the Saviour of the Wizarding World, Harry James Potter, the Prodigal Son, Ronald Bilius Weasley and the Wayward Daughter, Ginerva Molly Weasley," he said in a disinterested voice.

"Oh Molly's going to be so thrilled. I will go floo her right away," Arianne said enthusiastically looking at Draco.

"She's busy today. Remember the long lecture she gave us about not being disturbed even if the world was ending," Draco reminded her.

"Right," the redhead head said as she stopped to think about what to do next.

Harry looked incredulously between the redhead and Draco. Her last name was Weasley and gathering from the confusion on Ron and Ginny's faces she wasn't a cousin, despite her red hair. She must be married to one of Ron's brothers. It had been a long time, enough time for each of his brothers to settle down but that still didn't explain why Draco Malfoy was in the Burrow or why the witch Harry was going to assume was their sister-in-law was so comfortable with Draco.

"What about the others? Where's Percy?"

"Hogwarts," Draco replied. "And if memory serves me correct, Percy wasn't their favourite brother either."

Arianne frowned at that before continuing, "Charlie then?"

"He's at work and I really don't think we need to distract him. Samantha would have another fit if Charlie came home injured," Draco said picking at some dirt he had gathered under his nails.

Before Arianne could start listing off the brothers he supplied her with the answers, "Bill is unavailable, Fred and George are at the shop in Hogsmeade which they have yet to reconnect to the floo system after their last experiment ran amok. Hermione is in the Muggle world today and Luna is not supposed to return until tonight."

Arianne crossed her hands in front of her chest and tapped her right foot impatiently, "stop standing there like a smug git and tell me what we're going to do?"

"Invite them in?" Draco said with a shrug before he sneezed loudly again.

Arianne summoned a box of tissues and shoved them in Draco's hand.

"This is my house you can't be debating over whether or not to invite me in!" Ron said angrily as barged straight in with Ginny rounding up behind him. Both took the opportunity of Draco's distraction with the tissues to retrieve their wands from him. Once inside the house Ron trained his wand on Draco and Ginny pointed hers at the mysterious woman.

"Who are you?" Ginny demanded as she glared at the female intruder.

"Didn't I just tell you her name is Arianne. Jeez Weasel, you would think after all these years you would have at least a little bit more intelligence," Draco sneered at Ginny only for the effect to be lost as he sniffled a little.

"Don't talk to my sister like that," Ron shouted at him. Ron's ears had gone bright red and his face was slowly turning colour to match his hair.

"I'm your sister-in-law Ginny," Arianne replied with a happy smile on her face. She had no fear that Ginny would hex her. Molly had always described her only daughter as a caring girl and Arianne couldn't imagine Ginny hexing her over nothing.

"How do we know if you're telling us the truth?" Harry asked. He had retrieved his wand as well but he had chosen to wipe it down with a tissue first. He didn't want to be sharing germs with the Slytherin.

"Look at all the pictures Potter. Arianne is obsessed with taking them. All of the family is on these walls," Draco said pointing to the many moving pictures that occupied almost every square inch of the walls in the Burrow.

It was the first time they stopped to observe their surroundings. Nothing was as they remembered it. The furniture in the living room was completely different; in fact none of it looked worn. It all looked brand new. They recognised their brothers, Penelope, Katie, Alicia, Hermione, Luna, Draco, their parents and Arianne in the pictures. There were a few other witches and wizards that they did not recognise.

"Ferret, I don't know what is going on here but before the end of the day I will wipe that smug smile off your face," Ron threatened.

"Let's go to the kitchen for some tea and we can explain everything. I imagine it's been quite a shock for you," Arianne said warmly.

* * *

The kitchen was different as well. The table that once sat nine, now sat twice as many. Ginny briefly glanced up to where the clock should have been but was disappointed to see it gone. Arianne busily set about making tea and told them they could sit anywhere. The three of them sat together on one side of the table and Draco sat opposite them. Arianne levitated the tea pot along with the cups and saucers to the table.

"Draco, you think we could make this into a surprise for Molly? I can just picture it now. If we can get everyone here it would be perfect," Arianne said enthusiastically as she sat down next to Draco.

"Sorry to burst your bubble Ari but not everyone comes to the Burrow and I think something like this is best left to be discovered naturally. Molly will be here in a few hours to check up on me. She'll find out then," Draco said confidently.

Arianne gasped. "I almost forgot, your medication. I promised Molly I would make sure you took it."

Draco groaned. He had given himself away. He glanced at the door and started deciding on the best escape route. It was a skill Snape had taught him.

"Draco, don't you dare," Arianne said as she followed his line of sight to the door. She held out a teaspoon with a liquid on it. "It's just a teaspoon take it," Arianne ordered.

"I would rather eat mud than take that," Draco replied as he stubbornly crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"That could be arranged," Ron said cracking his knuckles.

"Don't make me hex you!" Arianne said threateningly

"Ha! You couldn't hex an elephant if it were standing right in front of you!" Draco replied superiorly.

"I could hex him," both Ginny and Ron volunteered happily.

"Draco stop being so stubborn and take the medicine," Arianne said ignoring the comment from Ginny and Ron. "Why do men always refuse to take care of their health!"

"Oh come on Ferret what's so hard about taking a little bit of medication? Are you scared?" Roy goaded.

"Malfoy has never been very courageous. That was why he was put in Slytherin or else we would have been stuck with him in our house," Ginny commented as she sipped gracefully from her teacup.

"If you're so brave, why don't you taste a little bit?" Draco said with a gleam in his eye.

Before Arianne could protest, Ron grabbed the teaspoon and downed it in one go. His face screwed up in immediate disgust.

"That is the worst thing I have ever tasted. And what is that after taste. Why is it getting worse?" Ron said reaching for the tea to try and get rid of the taste.

Draco smiled smugly at Ron as he raised the entire tea pot to his mouth. When that wasn't enough he went directly to the fridge looking for something sweet to drown out the taste.

"That was cruel," Arianne admonished Draco.

"I'm not taking that blasted medicine ok," Draco replied stubbornly. "I don't mind suffering through the sniffles,"

"Listen here mister, either you take it or I will call Hermione to shove it down your throat!" Arianne threatened.

"Do you even remember how to use a muggle cell phone? And if you did, do you remember Mione's number?" Draco teased Arianne with a broad smile.

Harry had been ignoring their little spat while he carefully observed all the changes in the Burrow. It was the little details that spoke volumes about the people that lived there. From the chains he remembered seeing in the yard to the absence of things that were precious to Arthur and Molly, Harry concluded that Bill lived at the Burrow now. Most of the pictures were of Bill and what he assumed were his three children. Both Arianne and Fleur were in the pictures but Fleur was conspicuously absent from the newer ones. He wondered if they had divorced. It was a rare occurrence in the magical community but it did happen.

He didn't know why the elder Weasleys moved out. Maybe like all elderly couples they wanted a smaller place. The mention of Hermione's name again caught Harry's attention. Throughout his seven years of travelling it was Hermione's presence that he missed the most. There were so many things he saw or did that he wanted to share with her. It was Hermione that ultimately brought him back to London.

Arianne was glaring ferociously at Draco.

"Uh, not to interrupt the lovely argument but I would be more than happy to shove that vile liquid down his throat," Ron said menacingly after he had eaten his way through five chocolate frogs.

A wicked smile adorned Arianne's face.

"No," Draco said fearfully.

"Either you take the medicine or I enlist the help of your brothers and sister," Arianne said with a rather large smile.

"I am not his brother and Ginny and Harry definitely are not his brother or sister!" an enraged Ron stated.

"Well Draco?" Arianne asked as she held the medicine up again. She had completely ignored Ron's comment.

"As the movie said, catch me if you can!" and Draco was gone with a soft pop.

Harry wondered how Draco knew about a muggle movie.

"That insufferable git! Hear my words Draco, I **will** get that medicine down your throat before Molly comes back if I have to tie you down and give it to you? Arianne screamed loudly into the house.

"Why are you screaming? He's gone. Isn't that good?" Ginny asked. She was beginning to think the woman in front of her wasn't all there in the head.

"He's still in the burrow. He wouldn't have left. He wouldn't dare defy Molly like that," Arianne said to them. "Molly would totally kick his ass."

"Why do you care so much about Draco taking his medicine?" Harry asked. "He is a full grown wizard."

"No Harry, you're forgetting he's a Malfoy, I don't think they ever grow up," Ginny explained as she finished the last of her tea. Harry had yet to touch his.

"I'm so sorry. I know I haven't been the best hostess but Molly entrusted this task to me and I have to prove to her that I can do it. Draco's got the flu. He has to take this medicine or it will just get worse, which would be fine really, except the last time he had it, he gave it to everyone and trust me you don't ever want to see Hermione sick!" Arianne shuddered at the thought of a sick Hermione.

"Molly told him he was to stay in the Burrow all day. He wouldn't have gone against her wishes. If only she had told him he was supposed to take his medicine. I can't believe the one thing she has ever asked me to do and I can't do it. Why must Draco be so difficult! He knows how important this is to me. I have to earn Molly's trust. I don't know how Hermione and Luna can put up with him!" Arianne rambled on but Harry noted the reference to the two witches.

"Sounds like Draco hasn't changed one bit. Still a selfish git that puts his needs before anyone else's," Harry said.

Arianne frowned, "I don't know the history between the four of you very well but that negative attitude towards him isn't going to work out in this family. We've accepted who Draco is. He is as much a part of the family as you guys are," Arianne told them. "But he leaves me no choice, Ron and Ginny would you like to play catch the ferret?" she asked.

"Abso-freaking-lutely," Ron said with a wicked glean in his eye.

"We'll need to split up. I suggest one person cover the kitchen, one person the bedrooms, oh, I guess I should do the bedrooms. We don't want the babies to wake up. One person should go to the attic and I think one person in the garden. That should do it," she said as she listed off the places on her hand.

"Why do we have to split up?" Ginny asked innocently.

Arianne explained that the wards had recently been improved and Draco was one of the few people that could apparate within the burrow. If all four of them confronted him he would just apparate somewhere else. She reasoned if one person confronted him and he did apparate, there was a high possibility that he would apparate right in front one of them. She continued rambling until she decided they had wasted enough time. On her way out the kitchen they could hear her mumbling continuously to herself.

"Is it me or does she need to be taken to _Arkam_ _Asylum_?" Ron asked when she left them alone in the kitchen. He had become quite the Batman fan.

"Definitely mental," Harry agreed shaking his head.

"I think we're missing something really big," Ginny said thoughtfully.

"Big is an understatement Ginny. I feel like I'm a complete stranger here," Ron frustratingly said.

"The big question is why does the ferret seem to be an accepted member of the family?" Ginny posed to them. "I don't understand why they would accept him after everything his family did."

"At least now we know why we couldn't apparate straight here. Though I wonder why they would have needed to change the wards," Harry said as he began to ponder the issue of the wards.

He remembered during the war Mr. Weasley had placed strong protection wards on the Burrow. They got through the entire war without a single incident. He couldn't understand why they would need to redo the wards now.

"I don't trust her but should we seem like we are helping her until we get some more concrete answers?" Ginny asked

"On the bright side, it does mean getting rough with Malfoy so I'm all for going along with her plans for now," Ron stated eagerly.

"Well, since you put it like that, I'm definitely in," Harry said with a wicked gleam in his eye. He had never got to put Malfoy in his place during the war.

"Ok, Harry, you get the attic and Ron gets the garden. I will stay down here," Ginny said with a broad smile as she pulled out a magazine from her bag and started reading it on the table.

Harry got the feeling that they missed out quite a few major events in the last seven years and they had a huge amount of catching up to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.


	3. Sick Ferret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Harry Potter. Again a reminder that Book 7 isn't followed in his story.

Three hours into his return to England and Harry wasn't quite sure how to characterise the day yet. He was spending most of it so far ducking the items the Ghoul was throwing at him; some of them sharp and pointy! He had nearly been impaled twice. Malfoy had only apparated up there twice and each time Harry had missed him when he tried to restrain him with a spell. Malfoy was a lot faster at avoiding spells than he remembered. He hadn't been able to get one within six inches of him and he was supposed to be sick!

Harry may have been gone for the last seven years but he by no means let his physical condition decline. He was happy to be alive. He wasn't going to become lazy and let his body waste away. He had picked up many muggle sports such as football, cricket, rugby and even tennis. He managed to get Ron into football. Both he and Ron had started playing with a club in Australia. They played for a full season and did quite well. The club didn't want to see them go. But they had spent enough time in Australia and planned on moving on to explore more of the world.

He could hear Ron cursing outside as Draco ran Ron around the garden. He figured Ron had it worse. Draco seemed to enjoy running Ron up and down the length of that garden. There was so much room for him to outmanoeuvre Ron. Harry really couldn't understand how Arianne could claim Draco was sick if he had that much stamina. The few times Harry had been sick he had barely been able to drag himself from the bed to the bathroom. There was one time, where Ginny put a bucket by his bed but even turning his head to throw up in the bucket was a challenge.

Ron's very loud shouting eventually woke the children and a very annoyed Arianne appeared in the garden with a series of children running after Malfoy as well. It was a game to them. "Catch Uncle Dray" they screamed as they ran after him. The children's presence made it increasingly harder for Ron to get to Malfoy but Harry did make a curious observation. Malfoy was genuinely smiling and laughing as the children pursued him.

Arianne came up to the attic to fetch him. "Draco will stick to the garden now. He won't disappoint the children, he is their favourite uncle and he earned that title by spoiling them rotten!" Arianne said.

"Malfoy with children, shouldn't there be a huge parental warning on that?" Harry stated disgustedly.

"Warning? Nonsense. Those children adore their uncle Dray. Yes the person most likely to play with them is Draco but he's been there every single time they needed him. He's sick because he took care of the twins last week when they were sick," Arianne replied in a light tone as they descended the stairs to the living room where Ginny had moved to.

Ginny was seated quite contently reading the latest edition of _Witch Weekly_ on the sofa. She had missed reading the magazine and decided to catch up on what the latest fashions were. She looked up at them and then out a nearby window at her frustrated brother who could no longer use any hexes for fear of hitting a child.

"The girl with the blond hair is that Nathalie?" Ginny questioned Arianne.

"Yes," Arianne replied as they watched Ron fall face first in the dirt as he tripped over some invisible object.

"Are they all our nieces and nephews?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Yes, the little boy with red hair, oh what am I saying all the boys have red hair, the little boy in the blue shirt is Thomas and the boy in the purple shirt is Jonathan. They're both Bill's. The two in the red shirts are Gerd and Forge," Arianne explained

"Gerd and Forge?" Harry questioned.

"That's not their real names but they adopted it after hearing their fathers being called that one day. They won't answer unless you call them Gerd and Forge," Arianne explained to them.

"I take it ones Fred's and other is George's?" Ginny asked with a smile

"Yeap. Those two off to the side plotting are Charlie's twins Michael and Mikaela. Now you really got to watch out for those two. Molly has categorized them as worse than Fred and George," Arianne said seriously.

"Mikaela? A girl." Harry asked astounded. Weasleys were known for having predominately male children.

"Yes a girl, the second girl to be born in this generation. But don't tell her that. She likes to be considered part of the boys. For a long time we have been trying to convince her to grow her hair but she keeps finding all sorts of ways to cut it short. She is amazingly resourceful!"

"And last but not least are the two sleeping babies upstairs. One is George's second son and the other is Percy's. Molly was after Penelope for a long time to give her a grandkid. She finally gave birth last month."

Ron came inside, his clothes and body covered with dirt and sweat, "I give up! I keep tripping over some damned invisible rock."

Arianne laughed. "That's a good example of the mischief the twins could get up to."

"Fred and George?" Ron asked with a confused look on his face.

"No M&M," Arianne replied.

"You have M&Ms?" Ron asked excitedly. He had grown accustomed to a variety of muggle sweets. M&Ms were one of his favourites.

"What are M&Ms? Hermione keeps mentioning it in relation to the twins but for the life of me I don't understand?" Arianne asked

"It's a muggle sweet," Harry explained simply.

"I guess it was one of those moments where I had to be there to understand," Arianne said sadly.

"You haven't been part of the family long?" Ron questioned picking up on her tone.

"I don't think I've ever become part of the family," Arianne admitted making the others feel very uncomfortable. She decided to broach another topic more relevant to their arrival.

"Ron your mother should be here soon. Please try to tone down the negativity towards Draco. Your mother totes on him as if he were another son. You better get used to treating him like a brother," Arianne said.

"I will do no such thing," Ron roared fiercely as he looked to Ginny and Harry to support him on this matter.

Ron was utterly disgusted by the thought of having to treat a wizard, whose main goal was to make his life at Hogwarts a living hell, as a brother. Things between them could never be 'brotherly'. They were bitter enemies, even though Malfoy had helped them through the war, that hadn't been enough to redeem him in Ron's eyes. When they had left Malfoy was a short sentence in Azakaban for crimes committed.

Draco came in with a squealing Thomas in his arms as he mercilessly tickled the poor boy, the rest of the children following behind. Draco put Thomas down and asked who was next, that sent the children screaming and scampering away instantly.

An idea occurred to Arianne and she turned to Nathalie.

"Nathalie would you like to see you Uncle Dray be brave?" Arianne said in a soft kind voice.

The girls pale eyes light up and she looked very much like Fleur.

"Draco," Arianne said with a sickly sweet voice, "Nathalie wants to see a brave uncle, why don't you take a drop of this potion I have here."

Draco stopped chasing Michael and turned around to glare at Arianne. All of the kids stop to look up at him with adoring eyes.

"Don't listen to Aunty Arianne," Draco said in a kind voice to the kids.

"Take the potion uncle, pleassssseeeee," Nathalie begged, her eyes focused solely on him. Harry realised that even though the young witch was one eighth Veela, she would have the ability to attract men and use them as she wished when she grew up.

Draco groaned and snatched the dropper out of Arianne's hand. He gave her the most threatening look before taking the drop. Draco's face immediately contorted into disgust and he ran straight to the kitchen.

"Good thing I hid all the firewhiskey," Arianne said with a smug smile as she watched the children run behind him thinking they had started to play catch again.

A very unsatisfied Draco barged back into the living room the children at his heels.

"Now behave, I don't want Elliot or Cole waking up," Arianne said sternly. Harry got the impression that she was speaking more to Draco than anyone else in the room.

The children all looked up at her with sheepish faces.

"I have some good news for you. Your Uncle Ron, Aunt Ginerva and Uncle Harry have returned!" Arianne squeaked happily. Ginny flinched at the use of her full name and the children all peered at them curiously for a second.

"Can we play some more with Uncle Dray?" Gerd and Forge asked after they lost interest in the new arrivals.

"No Draco is sick and cannot play with you today," said a stern voice from the fireplace. She was looking down at her dress and dusting off any soot that might have attached itself to her.

It was a very familiar voice and a voice the three of them had yearned to hear. Mrs. Weasley shrieked when she realised who was seated on the sofa and she immediately moved towards them and enveloped them each in a huge Weasley hug.

"My babies! My Babies!" She kept repeating over and over. Her grip on Ron was particularly tight.

"Mum … breathe … can't" Ron tried to rasp out.

"Molly, I think he is trying to say he can't breathe," Arianne said interrupting Mrs. Weasley's moment.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, it's just been so long since I saw you. Come now, let me get a good look at each of you," Molly said as she moved back to observe her children.

Ginny went first and did a little fancy twirl for her mother. The children giggled at her antics and Mrs. Weasley sent them up to their rooms to play.

"Ah my baby girl is looking all grown up," Molly said when she turned back to look at Ginny. A stray tear flow down her cheek but she brushed it away quickly.

Ginny put her hands on her hips and replied "Mom, I'm not a baby anymore!" Mrs. Weasley tutted at her reply and turned her gaze to Ron.

He easily looked down at her. Molly started to cry harder. Ron had grown into a handsome man. He was now her tallest son and Molly felt extremely proud of him. Her boy had left and returned a man.

Molly looked at Harry who stood next. He was just an inch shorter than Ron but just as handsome with his jet black hair and piercing green eyes. He was thin with a healthy dose of muscle on his frame. An overwhelmed Mrs. Weasley hugged them all again.

"What have you been eating? You boys could do with a little more food in you," Molly said through tears.

"They eat a lot. We travelled all over the world mum. It was fantastic." Ginny said as her face lit up with excitement at the thought of all the adventures they had to tell.

"We learned so much and I have so much muggle stuff to show dad!" Ron said enthusiastically.

At the mention of his father, a dark look passed over Mrs. Weasley's face. She quickly pushed it aside and went on. "So are you married?" she asked her daughter.

"No mom, I'm not married," Ginny said exasperatedly.

"But surely you and Harry… you have been gone seven years!" Molly said astonished at her daughter's revelation.

"Mrs. Weasely," Harry started before he was interrupted by her.

"I told you before you left to call me mum!" she said crossly.

"Mum, Ginny and I are no longer together. We realised a few years ago that we just weren't meant to be," Harry replied softly.

"So none of you are married yet?" Molly asked with a slight frown.

"Nope mum, sorry," Ron replied happily.

"Children these days, I was married and had Bill by the time I was your age. Oh well, I'll just add you to my marriage list." Molly said as she summoned a piece of parchment and a quill and started scribbling away.

Harry was almost afraid to ask, "Marriage list?" He got out in a whimper.

"Oh don't worry. It isn't that bad. Ask Draco he has been on the list for the last two years," Molly said as she fidgeted with her daughter's hair.

"Mum speaking of Draco, what is he doing here?" Ron said in as calm a tone as he could muster. His mother looked so happy he didn't want to upset her.

Molly paused for a minute contemplating what to say. "Why don't we discuss this over dinner? I can invite the whole family over. You have plenty of people to meet. I gather you already met most of the children. We'll have dinner at the manor," she said.

Mrs. Weasley bustled over to the fire place and stuck her head in. A few minutes later, three elves emerged from the fire place. Harry immediately recognized them as Dobby, Winky and Kreacher!"

Dobby's big green eyes lit up as soon as he recognized Harry.

"Harry Potter has returned! Oh how Dobby has missed Harry Potter," he said as he threw his tiny body at him.

"Dobby there is no time for pleasantries. I need the entire Manor set up for a grand feast tonight. My children have returned and I want to celebrate. I need you to invite all the usual people," Mrs Weasley said to the elf. "I'll be there shortly to help with the preparations. Now off you go," She said excitedly.

The three elves disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Manor?" Ginny questioned

"Yes," Molly said not offering Ginny any explanation.

Harry and Ron both observed the smirk on Draco's face. He had sat there quietly and observed the entire seen.

"Mum surely you don't mean," Ron sputtered

"Malfoy Manor?" Harry finished fearfully.

"The one and only!" Draco said with a smug smile.

Memories of Harry swearing to Draco that he would never step foot in Malfoy Manor popped into his head. Even when it had been discovered that Draco had been working for the side of the light and there was a book on the destruction of horcruxes in the Malfoy library, Harry hadn't gone there. They had sent Draco to retrieve the book with Tonks.

Draco obviously remembered the exchange for his smile couldn't be any wider. Harry felt like hexing that smile off his face and the fleeting thought of not going, passed through his head, but then he didn't want to disappoint Mrs. Weasley. She seemed so happy that they were back. He had a few questions to ask though. Number one on the list concerned a certain smug ferret. Next were questions about Fleur and Arthur, not one person had mentioned the Weasley patriarch as yet.

After grilling her children a little bit more about their adventures and eating habits, Molly left to prepare their banquet. Percy soon arrived tumbling out of the fireplace and Draco wasn't ashamed to let at a hearty laugh at the sight. Percy gave them a kirt nod before he headed upstairs for his baby boy. A few minutes later he came down the stairs with a small bundle in his arms that he was gently rocking and softly humming a lullaby to. As he reached the bottom of the stairs he thanked Arianne for babysitting and then left through the floo network.

After Percy's arrival a tall girl with brown curly hair arrived at the Burrow. Arianne greeted her warmly and she instantly took to teasing a sick Draco. He detested being teased and instantly redirected her attention to the new returnees.

"So you three **are** the reason for tonight's feast. You know I have been trying to lose that last set of pounds I put on from Michael and Mikaela," The girl said. "I'm Samantha by they way."

"Oh hush child. You're as thin as the day you married Charlie," Arianne replied

"That's my point exactly. I needed to lose five pounds then and I still need to lose five pounds now."

"If you want to lose five pounds Sam, try running around with these kids all day!" Draco exclaimed

Sam frowned, "I thought you were sick!"

Draco groaned and placed his head in his hands.

"I don't have much time for your male ego Draco. Charlie is coming home late today and I need to get the twins ready for tonight," Sam said as she moved towards the steps. Once she was there she called out at the bottom of the stairs and two red heads came running down the stairs towards the fireplace.

"Did you say good bye to Aunty Arianne and Uncle Draco?" Sam said to her children as they flew passed her

"No," they both chorused

Sam crossed her arms over chest and stared sternly at her children. "Well I'm waiting and don't forget to thank them for babysitting you."

Harry watched as the children reluctantly walked up to Arianne and hugged her goodbye before moving on to do the same thing with Draco.

"Don't worry I'll see you later at the manor. We can play all sorts of tricks on Aunty Hermione and Aunty Luna," Draco said with a twinkle in his grey eyes.

The kids faces lit up and they ran back to their mother. Sam moved to the fireplace and grabbed a handful of Floo powder but before going she looked at the sofa where the three of them were seated. "I'm sorry I can't stay longer but if we're to get ready in time, we have to leave now."

"Westbrook" She shouted and familiar green flames erupted around them before they disappeared.

The next person to grace the burrow with her presence was Katie Bell.

"Hey Ari," she said. She turned to look at Harry and the gang, "Welcome back, I would love to stay longer but I'm in a huge rush. I came to collect Cole." She looked back at Arianne, "Can you please floo Edward and Danny to the shop in Diagon Alley? I need to do some things for my mom so Alicia is going to get the boys ready," Katie said as she headed straight to the staircase.

They next heard the sound of a baby crying and Katie emerged on the staircase cooing to her baby boy. She threw a smile over at the sofa and then disappeared through the front door.

"Danny and Edward?" Harry queried as he couldn't remember Arianne mentioning those names before.

"Gerd and Forge," Arianne replied simply before she levelled her gaze at Draco. "Can I leave you to behave while I take Gerd and Forge to the shop?"

Draco gave her an incredulous look and Arianne took that as a yes and disappeared upstairs for a few minutes before returning with coloured skin and rainbow hair. Draco laughed when he saw her but was soon silenced by her glare.

"Come on you two. I'll have your father's undo whatever it is you just did to me!" Arianne said sternly as she marched them to the fireplace and disappeared again. As soon as she was gone there was a roar of laughter from Draco followed by three children running down the stairs.

"We got her good uncle Draco!" Bill's eldest son, Thomas said.

The children soon coaxed Harry and Ron to play with them as well.

* * *

Ginny observed Draco with the kids and a strange thought occurred to her. Malfoy would make a good father. Ginny promptly pushed the thought away with memories of a self-righteous, arrogant, selfish, pompous Malfoy. Those qualities did not make a good father. She had always imagined Harry being the father of her children but things between them didn't work out and they both agreed that friendship was the only option for them.

She soon found herself staring at the platinum blond as he played with her niece and nephews. There was something very different about him and it scared her. She found herself being attracted to him. He had a light in his eyes, he never had before and the smile he gave those kids was so sexy. Her eyes started moving over his body, starting with his face and then drifting lower. She studied his broad chest and briefly wondered what he would look like shirtless. She could see his taunt muscles moving below his shirt as he used his wand to summon a bottle of firewhiskey to him now that Arianne had left. She wondered what it would be like to run her hands over his chest and down the six-pack she believed was hiding under his robe. As her eyes reached the top of his pants she forced herself to stop looking and a voice in her head that sounded a lot like Ron's admonished her for checking out Malfoy. She didn't want to think about what she would have thought if she let her eyes travel further south along his body. She suddenly found that she was very hot and started to fan herself with the _Witch Weekly_ that was on her lap.

Ginny didn't know what to make of the situation. She had been there a few hours and besides the warm welcome from her mother she felt unwelcome. Though she never got along with Percy, she was hoping for a least a welcome back from him. That strange woman, Sam, didn't really say anything to them and Katie barely had time to talk. She was beginning to feel like an intruder in the house that she grew up in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.


	4. Malfoy Manor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

Ginny and Harry made the mistake of offering to help Arianne prepare the kids for dinner since Bill was working late and decided to floo straight to the Manor. Harry unsuccessfully tried to convince the two boys in front of him to have a bath. He had a rather large bump on the back of his head that he had earned from slipping on a bar of soap while chasing the boys around the bathroom. He had a sneaking suspicion that the boys had something to do with that.

After he recovered from his fall he realised that Thomas had opened the bathroom door and both boys ran outside. He chased them down the corridor and skidded on some water which had mysteriously appeared out of thin air. He landed on his butt and went sliding, spread-eagle style, into a table leg, which resulted in some serious pain to a very sensitive area of his body. He hoped it wouldn't affect his ability of have children later on in life.

Ginny wasn't making out any better with Nathalie. She did obey her when it came to taking a bath but she refused to wear what was on the bed for her. She kicked up a huge fuss and also refused to let Ginny comb her long flowing hair. Her attitude vaguely reminded Ginny of Fleur and she wondered where the older witch was? Wasn't it her job to see about her children?

Harry, being on his last nerve, casted a full body bind on each of the little devils and bathe them himself. He then levitated them to their bedroom and charmed the clothes on to the kids. Before he released the hex, he told the two boys to behave or else they would have far worse than that. Ginny arrived at the door and admonished Harry for using magic on the kids.

"But Gin, they wouldn't listen! What was I supposed to do, try and reason with the sprogs?" Harry asked exasperatedly.

"That's exactly what you should have done. Look at Nathalie here, all dressed up and looking pretty. I reasoned with her!" Ginny explained to a now embarrassed Harry. What Ginny neglected to mention, was that she told Nathalie, either she wore the dress or she would have a polka dot face for the rest of her life.

"I actually wanted children but after this experience maybe I'm better off without them," Harry said as he sat down on the edge of Thomas's bed. This room brought back many memories. It was Ron's old room and Harry remembered the many times that he had stayed there.

Flashback

"Ron you're not coming with me," Harry stated dangerously.

"Mate, you just defeated Voldemort five months ago. I'm not going to go let you wonder around the world by yourself," Ron said

"That's right I defeated Voldemort! I can take care of myself without you," Harry replied angrily.

"Harry, you are in no state to take care of yourself. You get angry easily and you keep having accidents," Ron pointed out to Harry calmly.

"I'll be fine," Harry said defiantly.

"I wouldn't be a good friend if I let you do this alone. You said you wanted us to live our lives now. Well I want to live my life with my best mate in it. You already decided that Hermione was better off with her parents. If you are not going to take her at least let me accompany you. If you get homesick, you at least have me," Ron pleaded.

"No Ron," Harry said firmly before he left their room to go down to breakfast.

Harry remembered he and Ron had that same fight all month long before he finally caved. Now, seven years later, he was happy that Ron came along. It made wherever he went feel a little bit like home though there was always something missing.

Ginny and Harry came downstairs to find Ron comfortably seated on the sofa snacking on a treacle tart that he had found in the kitchen. Arianne came down shortly afterwards with the three children in tow.

"Thank you so much for helping me. I haven't been able to get any time to myself since Jonathan was born," Arianne said gratefully. She had dressed up in yellow robes that looked absolutely gorgeous on her.

"I bought these six months ago and I'm finally getting a chance to wear them. I guess I should thank you for coming back," Arianne continued to ramble on.

"Arianne, can we go now?" Thomas asked impatiently.

"Of course," she said as she turned to Ron. "There's a special connection between here and the Manor. Just say Manor and you'll go straight through."

She handed Floo powder to Nathalie, then to Thomas before she picked up Jonathan and grabbed a handful for herself. Green flames emerged from the fireplace and one by one they soon disappeared.

"You guys ever wonder why Fleur hasn't shown up or why no one has talked about Dad?" Ron asked suddenly.

"Yes, I've been wondering that same thing but Dad's probably working hard at the Ministry. You know how he is," Ginny said logically.

"It just feels different. It doesn't feel like it used to," Ron said.

They both nodded. The Burrow didn't have that warm friendly feeling that it used to have.

"You're both still missing the obvious that Jonathan is Bill's son but his mother is Arianne and not Fleur!"

"How did you conclude that?" Ron asked.

"Never mind, let's get a move on it. We won't find any answers standing around here," Harry stated as he grabbed a handful of floo powder and disappeared in green flames.

Having spent seven years travelling the world as a Muggle, Harry had never mastered floo landings and as he had during his first years at Hogwarts, he landed very ungraceful on the cold marble floor. He slowly started to get up but was then abruptly thrust back on to the ground by Ginny who landed on top of him. She scrambled off of him in time to avoid Ron coming through the fireplace. However, Harry wasn't fast enough and his face was thrust once again into the floor.

"Thanks for the soft landing mate," Ron said cheerfully and he got up.

Harry scowled at Ron as he stood and started brushing off the soot that he was now covered in.

"Young man, be careful where you brush that!" a high-pitched shrill voice said. "I don't want to get soot all over my new robe."

Harry turned his attention towards a tall thin woman with long straight black hair and cold black eyes, who was standing in the doorway. She was dressed in black robes that contrasted with her very pale skin and Harry wondered how on earth she could tell if she got soot on her jet black robes. She approached them in long determined strides which caused her robes to billow behind her in a very Snape like manor.

"Come along, you are the last to arrive," the woman said as she turned around and walked through the doorway she was standing in.

"Ok, that was very freaky. She reminded me of Snape," Ginny said as a chill went down her back at the thought of him.

Harry took the brief opportunity to scan the room. They appeared to be in a large off white circular room with many oval exits. The room was bare with the exception of a chair that was positioned in the middle of the room. This was quite the opposite to the grand picture Draco had always painted of Malfoy Manor. Harry had been expecting to see lavish decorations, gold ornings, paintings of previous Malfoys, expensive furniture and a few house elves slaving away to make sure everything was perfect. He never expected anything this bare.

"Mate, which door did she go through?" Ron asked as he scratched the side of his head. The room had many doors and it was quite tricky to figure out which door she went through if you weren't paying attention since besides the fireplace everything else looked the same. Fortunately, Harry had marked his bearings by the fireplace and knew she went through the fifth door on the right.

"This way," Harry indicated as he set off towards the door but paused a few feet away. "There's a ward up."

"Yeah, I can feel it" Ginny said as she walked up next to Harry.

"Is it dangerous?" Ron asked. He had never been good at detecting and disabling wards. That had always been Harry's field.

"Not sure. Never felt anything like it," Harry replied as he scanned the ward.

Harry tentatively stepped forward and looked through the exit to the next room which appeared to be as bland as this one. He stopped an inch from the ward and felt it pull him forward. That was strange since most wards were to keep people out not pull them in. Once the urge became too strong, he stepped through the ward.

He felt a very strong disorienting feeling at first followed by a sharp pain. He felt as if he was being turned inside out. He landed flat on the floor and a bucket was promptly place in front of him. He wasted no time in filling the bucket with the contents of his stomach. Harry felt a brief nudge to move over and realised the he had been joined by Ginny. Another nudge later and Ron joined them around the bucket. As the nauseous feeling subsided, Harry realised there were two voices talking over them, a male and a female voice. He felt a dread in the pit of his stomach as he recognized the male voice. It belonged to a man he thought had died during the war.

"It looks like Potter is finally recovering," Snape sneered.

The woman from earlier looked down at him.

"You'll get used to it eventually," she said as she glanced over at Ginny and Ron.

"Well get off the floor boy. We don't have all day," Snape stated impatiently.

"Don't be so harsh Professor," came a dreamy voice from the doorway.

Harry's attention was immediately drawn to it. It was the first time he realised that the room he was in was much different to what he saw through the doorway. This room was decorated grandly with many pictures and expensive decorations. There were mouldings around the windows and plush sofas. On the floor was a very expensive Moroccan rug which depicted a grand castle in the dessert.

A tall thin woman was moving towards him. She had dirty blonde hair and large blue eyes. Harry vaguely thought she looked familiar. What stuck Harry as odd was that she was wearing muggle clothing, a simple black jeans and a blue cardigan with the letter L on it. It was only when he saw her bracelet made of bottle corks did he realise who it was.

"Luna?" Ginny said as she was trying to stand.

"Hello Ginny," Luna said as she warmly embraced Ginny.

"They're ready, Professor," Luna said addressing the woman next to Snape.

"Let's get along then," She said as she thrust a potion into Harry's hand and ordered him to drink it.

Harry looked down at the murky brown liquid with lumps of green stuff floating in it. He immediately felt like using the bucket again.

"It's best to drink it and not stare," Luna advised serenely as she watched the woman give Ginny and Ron, who were still on the floor, potions as well.

"Is this safe?" Ginny asked uncertainly as she eyed a particularly large lump in her potion.

"Yes, though it has been known to occasionally affect a mugwy," Luna replied.

"Why do we have to take it?" Ron asked horrified.

"The Manor is an ancient house and much magic flows through it. This potion will prevent the Manor from causing you any harm," Luna explained.

Ginny was the first to give it try. Luna had been a good friend and she never led her wrong. She put the vile to her lips and had to suppress the gab reflex as the most horrible tasting potion slid down her throat. She could feel those green blobs as they moved down her oesophagus.

"Yuck, that has to be the worse potion ever developed," Ginny exclaimed as she looked around frantically for something to get that yucky taste out of her mouth.

Luna handed her a chocolate frog, which she promptly grabbed and shoved down her throat. Luna revealed two more frogs as she patiently waited for Ron and Harry to swallow theirs.

"We don't have all day," the woman exclaimed impatiently.

"Go on ahead, Professor, take Ginny, I'll wait on these two," Luna said calmly.

"Come along Ginerva, you have a lot of catching up to do!" the woman said as both she and Snape left with their robes billowing behind them in a similar manner.

"That was even freakier than before," Ron commented.

"I think it's endearing," Luna said as she watched them with a longing in her eye. She wanted something similar to what they had.

"Endearing?" Ginny questioned.

Luna nodded. "You better follow them or you might get lost in the manor," Luna said as she gave Ginny a slight nudge forward. She reluctantly followed her former potions professor through the manor.

Luna levelled her gaze at Harry. "Don't expect her to be happy to see you."

"Huh?" Ron said as he stood up and straightened his robes.

"I see in seven years you haven't matured much Ronald," Luna said as she turned her gaze to the tall redhead.

"What! You barely know me and you accuse me of not maturing," Ron said outraged that Luna could insult him like that.

"Drink your potion," Luna instructed as she decided to have a seat. She suspected Ron might be a while.

"I refuse to drink this brown guck," Ron said as he held the potion away from him.

"Harry, are you going to drink yours?" Luna asked studying Harry with her large blue eyes.

Harry felt strangely comforted by Luna's presence but he knew someone had to go follow Ginny since she left by herself with Snape! Harry lifted the vile to his mouth and downed it in one go.

"Awful doesn't even begin to describe that," Harry said eagerly grabbing the chocolate frog that Luna had offered him earlier.

"Ronald, your turn," Luna said giving him another piercing gaze.

Ron crossed the arms in front of his chest in defiance.

"Oh honestly Ron, it's just a potion. Drink the damn thing!" huffed a girl with brown wavy hair.

Their attention was drawn to a tall thin witch with beautiful brown eyes who stood at the doorway. Harry instantly recognized her but his throat suddenly went dry and everything he had rehearsed to say to her, was stuck and refused to come out. She was wearing a short black skirt that stopped mid thigh and a red cardigan with a gold letter H on it. He watched as she headed to the warded door. She hadn't so much as glanced at him since he realised that she was there.

"Where are you going?" Luna inquired with a concerned look on her face.

"One of the wards at Westbrook was tripped. I'm going to pop across to fix it," Hermione replied

"Be careful," Luna told her.

"As always!" Hermione said throwing Luna a beautiful smile.

Harry watched as she walked gracefully through the ward without faltering. She sat down in the chair and then disappeared. He was about to ask a question about that chair when Luna held her hand up to stop him.

"Drink up Ron, your brothers are anxious to see you!" Luna said a bit impatiently.

Harry looked sharply at Ron and he got the message. He held the vile up and imagined he was doing a tequila shot. In one shot it was all gone.

"Follow me," Luna said as she got up from the sofa and headed out the door.

Ron was making all sorts of odd looking faces as he dealt with the after effects of the potion which Luna seemed to be ignoring.

"Aren't you going to give him his chocolate frog?" Harry asked concerned for his best mate.

"What chocolate frog?" Luna asked as she took the extra frog and bit the head off and in a few moments there was no frog left.

Harry had to suppress the chuckle that threatened to escape his mouth as Ron looked aghast at Luna's actions.

"This way," Luna said as she made another turn in the maze of corridors they had been walking through. Harry got the feeling that she was deliberately leading them around to confuse them.

"You know your way through here well," Harry commented as he studied the different halls they walked through.

"I should. I live here," Luna responded with a wry smile.

"Are you and Draco married?" Harry inquired disgustedly.

"No, we're just friends and you're going to have to learn to like Draco," Luna told them point blank.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Ron whined.

Harry ignored Ron, choosing to question Luna instead, "Why don't you live with your dad anymore?"

"Well ever since Moll" Luna stopped talking mid sentence. She wasn't supposed to tell them what she was about to say. They would find out soon anyway.

"Here we are," Luna said as she stopped in front of two grand white double doors that stretched from the ceiling to the floor. The doors were trimmed with gold and had a complicated pattern running down the surface. Two gold door handles protruded from the door.

"And where is this? Harry inquired.

"The dining hall," Luna explained.

"What are we waiting for?" Ron said angrily from behind Luna. He still had that awful taste in his mouth, though it was gradually receding.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Luna asked.

"You make it sound like it is some life changing event," Harry said

"Oh it is, it definitely is," Luna replied as she reached forward and opened both doors.

The room was very crowded and the first person to greet them was Remus Lupin who pulled Harry into a tight embrace. They were soon surrounded by a mass of red heads, all enthusiastically welcoming them back. They laughed and joked and twins looked for wedding rings and then warned them about the marriage list. Bill told Harry that he didn't have to marry Ginny to be part of the family. He would always have a place with them regardless of what he did.

Mrs. Weasley called for order and asked everyone to take a seat at the table. She sent a house elf to call Tonks and the children to eat. Harry observed that there was a smaller table set up at the side that he assumed was for the children. Mrs. Weasley ushered them to chairs and sat them down next to each other at the end of the table near her.

Ron looked around the room for his father but didn't see him. He saw Lupin, Snape, the woman from earlier, Arianne, Katie, Alicia, Penelope, Sam, his brothers, Luna and Draco all seated round the table but not his father. At the head of the table where his father should have been, sat an old man with grey hair that Ron vaguely recognized.

"Where is dad?" Ron asked his mother.

An uncomfortable silence settled on the room as all eyes turned towards Mrs. Weasley.

"Ron, your father isn't with us any longer," Mrs Weasley said softly to her youngest son.

"What do you mean he isn't with us?" Ron asked angrily

"He's gone on to the next great adventure," Molly said with a tear in her eye.

"Ron," Bill said as he came up behind Ron and placed his hand on his shoulder.

"What?" Ron asked feeling the sense of panic building within him.

"He died three years ago," Bill spelt it out for him.

Ron felt like the world had been pulled out from under him. His father was dead. This was not possible. His father was a healthy vibrant man when he left. The war had been over for six months and everyone was safe. How could he be dead?

"No, no, no, that can't be right," Ron said in disbelief.

Ron broke down completely and he felt the arms of his brother hugging him.

Harry was the first to speak, "How?"

"He had to be killed," Charlie said sadly.

"Who did it?" Ron asked murderously forgetting that Charlie's words implied that there was more to the situation than what Ron comprehended.

"Hermione," Mrs. Weasley answered with a sob.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	5. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

Harry felt as if someone had just punched him in the gut. The words Mrs. Weasley had sobbed were not possible. Mr. Weasley couldn't be dead and Hermione wasn't capable of murder. Bill had made his way straight to Ron. He knew his youngest brother needed his support but he also placed a hand firmly on Ginny's shoulder.

"No it's not possible." Harry insisted firmly.

"Harry dear, things have changed since you were gone," Mrs Weasley said softly to him.

Harry clenched his fists, how many more times were they going to say things have changed. It's been seven bloody years, of course things have changed and Harry was beginning to get very annoyed with them. Why couldn't they just tell him how things changed instead of playing it out like a bad soap opera?

"Dad wanted her to do it," Bill explained as he released Ron from the tight hug he had held him in.

"She was only acting on his wishes. There were no other options. Believe me, no one wanted Dad to die," Charlie interjected as he stared at a theoretical spot on the wall.

Mrs. Weasley conjured a handkerchief and raised it to her teary eyes. The old man from the other end of the table stood and walked briskly over to her. He knelt beside her and pulled her into a hug. She willingly collapsed into his arms and Ron watched horrified as the man placed a gentle kiss on his mother's temple.

"Get your hands off my mother!" Ron shouted as he angrily stood and sent his chair flying back into Bill, causing his brother to double in over in pain.

"Ron, I know you just found out about your father but I've moved on. I couldn't stay the way I was before and one of his last wishes was for me to be happy and I've found peace with Sol," Mrs Weasley explained to her youngest son.

"I can't believe this! Dad is dead and mom is shagging a stranger!" Ron screamed harshly at his mother before storming out of the room and slamming the door on the way out.

"You break it, you pay for it!" Draco called out and both Katie and Alicia scolded him for his insensitive behaviour.

Ginny was too stunned to speak and barely registered her mother's revelation about her new relationship. She was still trying to process that she would never be able to see her father again. She would never get to experience the father daughter hugs that she missed so much but most importantly of all, she would never be able to tell him how much she loved him and how thankful she was to him for the way he raised her.

"I told you, you spoiled him Molly," Severus commented smugly.

"Darling, Ronald is definitely his mother's son. Molly had a similar problem when Bill moved on with Arianne," the witch next to Snape commented.

"I'll talk to Ron," Bill volunteered after he had recovered from the pain though he did think it would leave a nasty bruise. As the oldest he had taken up his father's role and often helped his mother with difficult decisions. He understood his brother's reaction and he was determined to help him deal with his grief.

"The Weasel could be anywhere. Use the locator spell to find him," Draco advised casually from his seat at the other end of the dining table.

Fourteen pairs of eyes glared at him for the offending term and Draco innocently held up his arms in defence. "Sorry old habits die hard!"

Bill exited the room and quickly cast the spell to find Ron. He chuckled to himself when the answer was revealed. Out of 225 rooms in Malfoy Manor, Ron had successfully found the kitchen! Bill thought his brother must have been born with some sort of internal instinct to locate the kitchen in any house.

Luna moved over to the seat that Ron had vacated and handed Ginny a glass of a brownish milky substance. She lifted the glass to her nose and sniffed before taking a small tentative sip as the awful potion from earlier still lingered in her mind.

" _Baileys_ ," Ginny questioned.

Luna nodded, "Good for the soul."

"I thought that was chicken soup?" Harry questioned as he had been listening to what the blonde was saying.

"Nope not the right ingredients," Luna replied as she embraced Ginny.

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. Luna had always been a little strange in school but he had no clue the girl knew about muggle alcohol. He wondered what other muggle things Luna knew about.

Ginny didn't care what Luna was on about, it was the support that she was offering that mattered and she relaxed into the embrace and let the tears that had been threatening to come, fall. Luna rubbed her back comfortingly and extended a hand to Harry, indicating that he was welcomed in the hug as well. Harry declined as he was never one to cry openly.

The sombre mood was interrupted by an explosion of loud noise as several redheaded children came running through the door and immediately headed to the smaller table that Harry had correctly assumed was for them. The adult that was with them was trying desperately to discourage them from running and as expected one child fell and the room was immediately filled with loud piercing screams.

"Wotcher, Forge," Tonks said as she bent down and picked up the small boy.

"I'm Gerd!" The child screamed.

"Sorry Gerd." Tonks apologized.

"No I'm Forge!" The child screamed back and Tonks gave a helpless look at Katie and Alicia.

"Behave Danny," Alicia lightly scolded her son.

"Nymphadora, you should be able to tell them apart by now," Fred commented.

"They aren't identical!" George said reiterating his twin's point.

Tonks glared at them and then placed the child down at the table next to Gerd before taking a seat at the table as well.

Jonathan started teasing Forge causing the children to erupt in laughter and happiness seemed to permeate the room chasing away whatever sadness had lingered there before.

"I came here tonight to celebrate the return of my children and that's exactly what I'm going to do. There will be no more sad thoughts for the rest of the night," Mrs Weasley stated firmly as she watched the smiles on her grandchildren's faces.

Harry knew that was the end of the conversation and he would have to wait till tomorrow to get the answers to the other questions that were plaguing his mind. There was one particular question he needed an answer to but that person seemed to be avoiding him at all costs.

A lavish dinner appeared on both tables. The house elves had outdone themselves. There were a variety of roasts, potatoes, vegetables and salads. Harry noted that the Weasley appetite had been passed on to the new generation. As Harry moved to load his plate with some of a shepherd's pie that had appeared in front of him, Mrs. Weasley seemed to come to her senses and remembered that not everyone was at the table so she insisted that they wait for the missing family members to return.

"But they're eating," Fred said pointing to his son at the children's table.

Mrs. Weasley glared at her son and no further protest was heard from anyone.

Harry glanced at Tonks and was very pleased to see that she looked very happy. It made him feel a bit better to know at least something had gone right while he was gone. Today she was sporting short silver hair that matched the small boy with the same colour hair that sat next to her. He wondered if Draco had fathered a child but the facial features weren't similar to Draco at all.

Ginny's mood seemed to improve as well and she took the opportunity to survey the ball room. It was as grand as she had imagined it would be. There were elaborate paintings on the wall, large candelabras on the wall with fancy ironwork, plush green carpet with silver trimming near the wall, the table's legs were carved to represent serpents and the back of each chair had two serpents intertwined. Everyone around the table seemed to be comfortable with the obvious Slytherin references and Ginny felt a shudder go through her as she remembered Nagini. She quickly cast the memory aside and moved on to more pleasant thoughts.

"Where's Fleur?" Ginny asked Luna as she had noticed that the beautiful blond had not showed up yet.

"Fleur died five years ago, shortly after the birth of Thomas. Bill was devastated, Thomas was 2 months old and Nathalie was entering her terrible twos. He completely shut down and he started visiting the pub daily. He wouldn't go home till late, if at all. Percy and Charlie had to remove him from a few pubs by force. Sam had just had the twins at the time and she volunteered to take care of Thomas till Bill could get back on his feet. Nathalie spent a lot of time with Percy and Penelope. She's extremely close to them. Draco eventually got Bill into a special program for wizards addicted to firewhiskey," Luna explained quietly to her as she didn't want to upset Molly further.

"Draco?" Ginny questioned.

"Is that so surprising?" Luna asked

"Actually, yes," Harry answered. He had been ease dropping on the conversation. Fleur's absence was one of the things he wanted to ask about.

"Bill met Arianne at the clinic and they bonded over similar experiences. Six months later they were married and a year and a half later she gave birth to Jonathan Arthur Weasley," Luna said with a smile. "But Molly and Arianne never got along. She was concerned for her grandchildren and with Arianne's alcoholic history, she wondered if she were a suitable mother to raise her grandchildren."

"How did Fleur die?" Harry questioned.

"A daring robbery at Gringotts; Fleur had gone to retrieve some galleons to buy gifts for Michael and Mikaela's naming ceremony. She was just walking out of her vault when a stray reductor curse hit her chest. She didn't have a chance," Luna said sadly.

There was a short moment of silence as Harry and Ginny both absorbed what had been said before Draco disturbed them. "Luna, find out what's taking Hermione so blasted long!" There were echoes of agreement from the twins who were eyeing a particularly large roast in the centre of the table.

Luna nodded while gracefully getting off Ron's chair and strolling casually towards the door. She passed Bill and Ron as they made their way back to the table. Ron looked as though he had calmed down quite a bit but he still had a sombre look on his face.

"I believe introductions are in order!" The old man at the end of the table said "Who wants the honour of going first."

The witch seated next to Snape jumped at the chance to go first.

"I'm Victoria Snape, I teach Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts," she arrogantly said. "Severus has resumed his post as the Potions Master and as a result, we live at Hogwarts."

If it were physically possible for Harry's jaw to hit the floor it would have. Snape had actually found a woman willing to marry him. The greasy haired git didn't just manage to get a woman but he got a beautiful one too.

"Samantha Weasley, we met earlier. We live at Westbrook. Charlie works in the department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and I work in the misuse of Muggle artefacts division," she said with a huge smile.

"You know me already, Arianne Weasley. Bill, the children and I, all live at the Burrow. Bill still works at Gringotts as a curse breaker and I'm a housewife. I also do the baby sitting when Molly is unavailable."

"There's no need to introduce us, is there Alicia?" Katie asked. Alicia nodded her head in agreement before adding, "But Fred and I live above the shop in Daigon Alley and Katie and George live above the shop in Hogsmeade. Katie and I both work at the shops."

"I suppose you remember me also, Percy and I live at Minister's Row. Percy is still an assistant to the Minister and I work as an assistant to the Wizengamot," Penelope explained.

"I think that's everyone" The old man said.

"What about you?" Ron said a bit harshly

"You don't recognize me. Well, I was hit with an aging spell recently but everyone here has been telling me that I look fine," he said as he glared at everyone one at the table who all ignored him.

"Sol you look fine. Ron was just a bit young when he met you. Forgive him if he doesn't recognize you," Molly said

"Ron knows you?" Ginny asked

"Yes he does. You know me as well, Ginerva. I'm Luna's father, Sol Lovegood."

Ron wanted to ask more questions about this 'relationship' he had with his mother but he was stopped by the return of Luna and Hermione.

Charlie stood from his seat with a questioning glance at Hermione.

"Everything's fine but…." Hermione said leaving the but hanging in the air and staring directly at Charlie's twins. Both children dropped slowly down in their chairs till you couldn't see them. The children knew that they could only joke so far with Aunty Hermione and once you passed that limit, there was no force on earth that could save you from her wrath.

Charlie reclaimed his seat next to Samantha and Hermione and Luna sat on either side of Draco. There was a silent exchange of words between Draco and Hermione before Bill announced that it was time for a toast. The twins rolled their eyes and started slowly using their wand to move the roast closer to them.

Bill stood and made an elaborate toast to Ron, Ginny and Harry. Charlie decided to go next followed by Percy. The twins were openly staring at the roast when Molly asked them if they had anything to say. They declined and were just about to reach for the roast when Molly summoned the roast away from them and placed it in front of Ron, who had no objections at all.

Harry looked down the table at Hermione and was disappointed to find that she was busy in a conversation with Percy and Penelope. She had yet to say anything to him and Luna's words echoed through his brain _"Don't expect her to be happy to see you."_

A snowy white owl that Harry immediately recognized as Hedwig, flew through the window and delivered a purple letter to Hermione. She accepted the letter and offered her some of her food. He was happy to see she was still alive and looked very healthy. Hedwig looked down the table at him and then turned away. She nipped at Hermione's fingers affectionately before flying away. Harry figured he deserved it for leaving her behind. She had always been a moody owl.

"Harry darling, something wrong?" Molly inquired from her end of the table.

"Oh no nothing at all," Harry said as he returned his gaze to his food.

It pained him that Hermione seemed so distant and he wondered if he had damaged their friendship beyond repair. It occurred to him that while he desperately tried to make the right decision by leaving Hermione behind seven years ago maybe he had made a serious error.

* * *

 

Flashback

_Harry apparated into the Granger's back yard. It had been five months since the war ended and Hermione had gone home to spend time with her parents. She hadn't seen them at all when they were hunting for the horcruxes. He walked to the back door and gently knocked._

_He was surprised when a teary eyed Mrs. Granger answered the door. Harry immediately thought something had happened to Hermione. His heart dropped into his stomach. Mrs. Granger invited him in and he saw Hermione in the living room crying in Mr. Granger's arms. She looked healthy and Harry could see no visible wounds._

_She looked up from her father's arms, "Harry," she muttered softly._

_Harry looked around confused. If Hermione was fine, why were they crying?_

_Mr. Granger must have sensed Harry's confusion and he answered the unspoken question. "I have cancer."_

_Those three words hit Harry like a rock. Harry wasn't close to Mr. Granger at all but he knew how much Hermione loved her father. After Mr. Granger found out the details of the war he didn't get along too well with him or Ron but he knew what this news would do to Hermione._

" _I guess I should go then," Harry said. He figured they needed some time alone and Harry didn't want to intrude upon their privacy._

_Hermione nodded as Harry walked away and apparated back to the burrow._

* * *

 

Harry remembered the following months had been very miserable for Hermione. Even though Harry was depressed he tried to cheer her up but he failed miserably each time. Mr. Granger had gone in for surgery the week before they left. When he emerged, the surgeon had said it was successful and Mr. Granger was recovering well. That was the first time he saw Hermione smile and it wasn't due to him. The next step for her father was chemotherapy and Hermione was determined to be there for her father.

When Harry first toyed with the idea of leaving, he wanted to consult Hermione. He had tried to get a hold of her but she was too busy accompanying her father to the doctor. Harry decided that her family needed her more than he did. He didn't want to burden her with his problems. She had, had enough of that for seven years and it was time for her to stop making sacrifices for his sake.

The day he gave into Ron's request to join him, he almost reconsidered asking her to come. He had apparated into her back yard and was about to walk to the door when he saw her through the window. Her father had been released from the hospital and she was waiting on him hand and foot. He was lying on the sofa and Hermione was sitting on the love seat. She was smiling and laughing. They both appeared happy and Harry realised at that point, she belonged there and not with him on some insane quest to find peace. He left that very night. He was beginning to wonder if by making that decision he had permanently ruined their friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	6. Old Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

Ron was angrily stabbing away at his chicken or whatever type of meat it was. He wasn't sure; he just loaded his plate with food. He was hoping that eating might give him a temporary escape from this nightmare reality he had returned to.

He had a hard time digesting the fact that his father was gone and Malfoy was the family's new best friend. To make matters worse, he was feeling extremely guilty about what he said to his brother in the kitchen. He had once again put his foot in his mouth and accused his brother of being insensitive to his pain since his brother had a nice half Veela wife to take care of him. It was then that Bill had informed him about Fleur's death and his subsequent firewhiskey problem. Ron felt like the biggest idiot in the world and he repeatedly berated himself for letting his jealousy of his brother's successes dictate his life. He should have paid closer attention to things at the Burrow instead of being so obsessed with Malfoy's presence there.

He refrained from glancing at his mother's end of the table. His parents had been in a happy loving marriage for over half a century, how could she have moved on so quickly? Bill had told him that he had moved on with Arianne and that he was happy again. His last piece of advice for Ron was that their mother also deserved to be happy and if Sol could make her happy, they should be happy too because that's what their father would have wanted.

At the other end of the table he found Hermione and Draco in a whispered conversation. His stomach turned. How could she stand to sit next to that vile creature? It hurt him to see his ex-girlfriend chatting so easily with Malfoy. Not able to look that way anymore, he stared across the table at Charlie's wife and he racked his brain to remember what her name was. He knew it began with a S and he thought back through the previous introductions. There was a lot to absorb.

"Sam," Ron said to get her attention.

The witch looked up from her plate at him.

"How did you and Charlie meet?" Ron asked hoping he had picked a decent topic for conversation. Women were supposed to like talking about how they first met their husband's right?

"We met through your dad. We both shared a common interest in Muggle Artefacts and he invited me over for a family picnic. Charlie was there and we hit it off right away," she said with a fond smile.

"So let me guess after a whirlwind romance, my brother decided to propose on a romantic evening and after a big Weasley wedding you were married!" Ron said casually before stuffing some mash potatoes in his mouth.

"Ron, this is real life not some romance novel, my relationship with Charlie is nothing like what you described," Sam replied evenly.

Ron looked at her confused. He couldn't picture Charlie doing anything different. Hell he couldn't picture any of his brothers doing something different. His mother would have had a fit.

"Like any normal couple Ron, we have our problems. Though some of our problems were the size of dragons, as Charlie likes to put it, but we do have our problems," Sam said with a wry smile.

Ron frowned, "Problems?" The thought of any of his brothers having marital problems was something that had never occurred to him.

"Let's see, Molly thinks I trapped her son because I got pregnant before we got married. Charlie proposed to me while I was pregnant and I turned him down deciding that we should live together first and then decide later if we should get married. Naturally, your mother disliked that option and when I had volunteered to take care of Thomas while Bill was dealing with his loss, I swear she almost had a heart attack. We only officially married about 5 months ago in a very small wedding, nothing like what you experienced when Bill got married the first time," Sam stated offhandedly.

Ron felt like a bigger idiot now for believing that his brothers had it easy and only his life was difficult. He found it hard to believe that Charlie got her pregnant before they were married and he could only imagine his mother's reaction. Ginny always lectured him and Harry about the use of the contraceptive charms reminding them that their mom wouldn't like it if they returned unmarried with grandchildren. It turned out Ginny worried about the wrong brother.

Ron was spared any more guilty thoughts when the doors opened and three men walked in. He barely recognized them as Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas and he was surprised by how different they looked. His last memories of them were when he was in the hospital recovering from the war. He had no clue what happened to them after his hospital stay.

"You're late," Hermione admonished in her usual bossy tone and Ron couldn't help but smile at hearing the Hermione he knew so well.

"Blame Neville," Seamus responded as he headed over to Hermione where three empty seats had magically appeared.

"It's not my fault, Cheryl got a little upset and we had a fight," Neville said casually as he joined Seamus.

"She finally ended things," Dean informed the table.

"About time!" was the general consensus from the dining room table which elicited a fierce glare from Neville.

"She wasn't that bad," Neville said defending his ex-girlfriend.

"Neville, she was a nightmare," Hermione said as she nibbled on a carrot stick.

"No Grawp is a nightmare," Neville corrected her as anyone who had ever had any interactions with the giant would know that he could be quite temperamental.

"Where is Grawp?" Hermione asked as she glanced around the ballroom.

"He's a giant Hermione, he isn't that hard to miss!" Seamus said sarcastically.

"You weren't there the time Draco put a disillusion charm on Grawp!" Hermione responded pointing a finger a Seamus. Draco let out a hearty laugh at the memory and Hermione scowled at him.

"Grawp is preparing the lesson for tomorrow. I swear he is worse than Hagrid. You should see the creatures he has behind the hut!" Neville said answering Hermione's question.

"But all the students love him," Hermione declared delightfully.

"I hate to break up your little conversation but is Grawp teaching at Hogwarts?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Yes, Grawp took over both Hagrid's position as game keeper and teacher. He's a good teacher and surprisingly gentle with the students. There were a lot of concerns about how he would treat the students considering the rough qualities that are associated with giants but he's been nothing but fantastic," Neville explained.

"That wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that not a single student would dare step out of line in his class," Seamus interjected.

"He's a good teacher, he isn't crazy like Wood," Hermione retorted defending his friend.

"Oliver Wood is teaching at Hogwart's too?" Harry asked astonished. He couldn't quite picture Wood teaching. He could get a bit too obsessive when he focused on something.

"Yeah, he took Madame Hooch's position." Dean explained. "His injury from the war prevented him from playing professional Quidditch so Flitwick offered him the position at Hogwarts and needless to say Wood jumped at the opportunity to get on a broom."

"More like flew at it," a disgruntled Hermione commented.

"Ignore her," Dean said, "she's still bitter about their breakup."

Hermione looked like fire was about to come out of her mouth but Draco stepped.

"Wood was the idiot in that relationship," Draco replied. "Hermione has every right to be upset with that git."

"Of course you would jump to her defence. You hate all of her boyfriends," Seamus said.

"Last time I checked Finnigan, you didn't approve of them either," Draco shot back.

"Ok can we stop discuss my love life," Hermione asked glaring at the guys.

Ron wasn't quite sure how to handle what he heard. Hermione had moved on after him, with several boyfriends, one of them being Oliver Wood. It was reasonable for her to move on but a part of him wanted her to still want him.

"What do you do now?" Harry asked directing the question to Dean.

"I work in spell reversal," Dean said proudly. "You wouldn't believe the type of things wizards accidentally do with magic."

"I work with the Ministry as an Auror. I'm officially Hermione's partner, though I think sometimes she forgets that," Seamus said as he threw and accusing glance over at said witch.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I can't help it if you are too slow to keep up!"

This was the first bit of information about Hermione that Harry had gathered and he carefully locked it away in his brain for review later.

"What about you Neville?" Ginny asked with a polite smile.

"Isn't it obvious!" Seamus said.

"She asked me not you," Neville retorted.

"Oh, attitude Neville, maybe if you had a bit more you might have been able to ditch Cheryl earlier," Seamus replied.

"He works as the Herbology teacher at Hogwarts," Dean said interrupting the verbal spat between Neville and Seamus, leaving both wizards glaring at each other.

"Everyone is here, let's get down to business," Severus said firmly.

"Yes, you are quite right Severus," Molly said as she stood up from her seat and signalled to Tonks.

Tonks stood, "Let's go play upstairs," she said cheerfully and soon they were all gone.

"I would like to call to order the monthly meeting of the Order of the Phoenix," Molly said as Fawkes appeared in a burst of flames. He circled round the room before landing next to Harry. Fawkes sang a welcoming melody and then flew towards Mrs. Weasley where he stayed.

"The order still exists?" Ron blurted out.

"Yes, three months after Fleur's death, we officially restarted the order," Bill explained.

"But why? Voldemort was gone." Harry said darkly reminding Ron of the dark tone Harry had during their first few months of travelling.

"Voldemort wasn't the only threat to the Wizarding world Harry," Remus said kindly.

"There's another dark lord?" Ginny questioned worriedly.

"No, but Voldemort left a huge mess for us to clean up," Sam said.

"Mess?" Ron questioned.

"There have been many wizards that haven't been able to recover from the psychological effects of the war. I believe the three of you should remember how strongly the war affected your own emotional state," Remus said

Harry nodded.

"Quite a few wizards have gone mad but the problem lies with the wizards that hid in the muggle world. They picked up very bad habits and brought it back into our world," Molly revealed

Draco snorted, he disagreed with Mrs. Weasley's assessment. "The real problem is the remaining Death Eaters who started organizations similar to muggle organized crime communities."

Ginny looked at Draco as if he were speaking Mermish.

"Basically," Neville said, drawing Ginny's attention to him. "The Death Eaters have formed their versions of the Mafia. There are several other gangs including the Wizarding Yakuza!"

Ginny stared at Neville. He had certainly grown into a handsome man. He still had the round face and Ginny could see a slight potbelly through his robes but his eyes held a certain kindness that Ginny found intensely attractive. Seamus wasn't bad looking either and Ginny could tell he was as toned as Draco was. Seamus's Irish accent was still strong and she briefly remembered her friend Lizzie who loved Irish guys.

She had met her in South Africa. Lizzie was an AIDS activist and was working on reducing the HIV rate in South Africa. They became friends quickly and Ginny soon discovered Lizzie's thing for Irish guys.

"We can debate the ills of the English wizarding society all night but the point is no one was prepared for the aftermath of the war," Sol said wisely.

"Quite right," Molly said as she turned her gaze to her children, " The point of tonight was to celebrate the return of my children and welcome them back to the Order."

"They will need to take the vow, Molly," Severus said sternly causing Mrs. Weasley to fidget a bit before continuing.

"Yes, … well, … we'll get to that later. Let's just rejoice in the fact that they have been returned to us safely," Mrs. Weasley said as she raised her glass to toast to her children.

The glasses were raised and Snape again opened his mouth to make a comment but Molly quickly cut him off.

"That's all there is on the agenda for today's meeting. I officially declare this month's meeting closed!" Mrs. Weasley said in a rush. Fawkes rose into the air and disappeared in a similar fashion to the way he arrived.

"It's getting late and everyone has work tomorrow," Mrs. Weasley said firmly giving the cue for everyone to leave.

Bill and Arianne rose from the table first and after a quick goodbye left to collect their children. The other adults soon followed in a similar fashion and pretty soon the dining hall was empty except for Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Seamus, Dean, Luna and Draco.

Harry sighed, Hermione had fled the room as if it were on fire. She volunteered to help Sam with the twins and Sam didn't look too pleased at all. As Harry got up to leave with Mrs. Weasley he was told that he, Ron and Ginny were to stay at the Manor until they figured out how to reintroduce them to the Wizarding community in England.

They weren't very thrilled with the idea of sleeping at Malfoy Manor but they had no other option. There were strong anti-apparition wards up and they couldn't remember the way back to the floo chamber. There was some sort of magic blocking portkeys so that wasn't an option either. They were stuck there and had to trust that if the family said it was safe, it was safe.

The table had dramatically shrunk and everyone was seated close together. Ron mysteriously found himself seated next to Luna and after a moment or two of trying to figure out how that happened, he decided to stop trying and just attempt to enjoy the rest of the night. Seamus and Dean had started up a game of exploding snap and soon everyone joined in.

Even though Harry had a huge dinner he still felt a bit peckish and asked Luna for directions to the kitchen. Luna volunteered to accompany him but before leaving she threw a cautionary look at Draco to warn him to behave himself with Ron. She took the lead and Harry followed behind her.

"Why isn't Hermione happy to see me?" Harry asked Luna.

"It isn't that she doesn't want to be, she can't," Luna replied cryptically.

"That makes no sense Luna," Harry pointed out.

"Harry, ever since you've known Hermione she's always put her friend's welfare above her own," Luna tried to explain as they turned left down a corridor lined with pictures of previous Mrs. Malfoys.

Harry nodded, there was no disputing the lengths to which Hermione would go to keep her friends safe.

"I don't see what that has to do with anything?" Harry replied.

"How can one be happy for a friend when they've foolishly put their life in jeopardy? Oh look, the door to the kitchen," Luna said as she pointed to a small door that reminded Harry of the entrance to his old room under the staircase in the Dursely's house.

"You can't expect me to fit through that?" Harry asked surprised.

Luna nodded and walked up the door. The closer she got the larger the door became until she could safely walk through it without bending.

"It's one of the charms we had to add to the Manor. The Malfoy's never visited the kitchen and thus left the door the size of a house elf," Luna said as she opened the door and walked into the kitchen.

Harry walked forward and the door moved upwards to accommodate for his taller frame. He walked through the doorway and was instantly greeted by Dobby throwing himself at his feet.

"Oh the great Harry Potter, how Dobby has missed you," he said as he clung to Harry's feet.

"Ah Dobby this really isn't necessary, I was just wondering if I could get an apple to munch on," Harry said as he wondered if it would be rude to shake him off his leg but a mental picture of Hermione admonishing for such an action popped into his head and he opted to stay still.

"An apple, of course Harry Potter can get an apple. Harry Potter can get anything he likes," Dobby said as he summoned a tray full of apples.

Harry looked at the tray that contained every type of apple imaginable and randomly picked one as he wanted to make a hasty exit away from the excited elf. He headed back to the door that he had come through but was stopped by Luna.

"That's the wrong way," she said in a dreamy voice.

"But we just came from that direction," Harry replied.

"I know but it's still the wrong way," Luna maintained.

Harry looked at her questioningly.

"The Malfoy's were paranoid about the Ministry raiding their house and thus they designed the interior to make it extremely difficult for an outsider to move within the Manor without an escort," Luna explained.

"Some of the corridors shift position and some of the doors aren't real, the corridor outside just shifted. There are multiple doors that take you to the same room. The dining hall has 23 doors that open into it. The kitchen has only one as the Malfoy's never anticipated needing to enter the kitchen," Luna continued

Harry stared at her.

"If you think that's bad you should see upstairs. It's designed as a maze to make it extremely difficult to get to the master bedroom. I have only seen the door to it once when I first got here. I was lost and happened upon it. It's not a nice part of the house to be in. It's still sealed shut," Luna said

"Why would you seal the master bedroom shut?" Harry questioned

"Lucius sealed it before the final battle. We don't know how to open it but we aren't in any rush to find out either. We don't spend much time upstairs anyway. I think Molly asked you guys to stay here in hopes that you might help us clean out the Manor," Luna said as she stopped in front of a door that appeared in the wall opposite to the one that they had come through. The original door disappeared.

"She wants us to help you clean this place!" Harry asked. Ginny could testify that housework was not his or Ron's strongest suit. After they broke up Ginny always got a separate apartment to them because she refused to pick up after them.

"Don't be too upset. It might be a lot of fun," Luna replied as she moved her hand to the doorknob.

"Wait, what you said earlier about being in jeopardy," Harry asked.

"That remains to be seen but you need to give her time. She's been put in some very precarious and difficult positions lately and the Auror office has been overworking her. She's barely had time to register the consequences of your return and I don't think she's stopped to think what it means to her as yet," Luna paused and appeared to be contemplating her next words carefully.

"It was extremely hard when you left. She had no one to turn to. You picked the worse possible day to leave. Mr. Granger died that day," Luna said sadly.

Harry's heart stopped beating for a second. He wasn't sure how much bad news he could take in one night.

"Bbbbutt he was fine when I left," Harry replied shocked.

"I do not understand muggle medicine but she said something about an unforeseen complication of the treatment he was receiving and an underlying condition that no one knew about. She was a mess Harry. Her view on life has become a bit jaded since then," Luna said as she turned the door handle and walked into the empty corridor.

Harry stared out the door at her and she tilted her head for him to follow her. He absently walked behind her as he tried to calm the turmoil of emotions he was going through. His gut had told him to come back long ago but he didn't think he was ready. It wasn't until that dream that he knew he needed to return. He cursed himself for ignoring his instincts. This was all his fault.

Luna stopped by a plain white door and Harry noted it was different to the grand door she had lead him to. This must be one of the twenty six that she had referred to earlier. They casually entered through the door and Ginny immediately called them over.

"You wouldn't believe some of the things Dean has had to deal with," Ginny said with a huge smile from her seat between Seamus and Dean.

Harry just nodded, he seemed to be incapable of happy feelings at the moment and wondered if there was a Dementor lurking somewhere around.

"As nice as this little reunion has been I can't pretend anymore. I need to know," Ron said seriously.

"Why did Hermione kill my father?"

"He was dying," Draco answered coldly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading.


	7. The Death of Arthur Weasley

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

The atmosphere in the dining room was tense and uncomfortable causing Luna to feel as if there were a hundred dementors sucking her happiness away. A pit of dread had developed in her stomach and unhappy memories flashed unbidden through her mind. Feelings of guilt and betrayal predominated and Luna struggled to keep the tears from leaking down her face.

Ron did have a right to an explanation about Arthur but she couldn't discuss what had happened. It was her fault he was dead and she couldn't look Ron and Ginny in the eye and explain that she had set the events in motion that caused Hermione to do the unthinkable. It had been her foolish mistake.

"Oh wow, would you look at the time," Dean exclaimed as he had sensed the sudden coldness that descended upon the room. He definitely didn't want to be in the room for this conversation. He knew the story already and he knew firsthand how unstable Luna could become when Arthur was mentioned.

"The time?" Seamus questioned, it still felt rather early to him and he had a few funny stories about Hermione that he had been dying to share with Harry and Ron. After all, nobody but Harry and Ron would understand the pain she put him through on a daily basis.

"Yes the time!" Neville echoed as he sprung to his feet and looked at the clock on the far end of the room. He too felt that his presence wasn't required and he was still recovering from the nasty hex he had accidentally received the last time Arthur had been mentioned.

"Yes, it's time to go," Dean reiterated as he grabbed Seamus by the collar and forced him to stand. Neville grabbed Seamus's arm and together they both forced the clueless wizard out of the room.

Draco was staring at the exit to the dining room, he desperately wanted to make a run for it but with Hermione at Westbrook that left Luna with no emotional support and Hermione would severely kick his ass if he left Luna hanging. It was such a pity too. He had finally gotten his hair to return to its usual sexiness after Luna's previous meltdown and he wasn't looking forward to having a repeat of last time.

"But why would she have to kill him if he was dying?" Ginny asked. It made absolutely no sense to her, if her father was dying why not let him die naturally. She couldn't imagine her father asking Hermione to end his life. She thought that would be cowardly and her father was a brave man.

Draco groaned he needed to head off this conversation before it got out of control. He was already beginning to sense a flare in Luna's magic. Her emotions were already tumbling out of control.

"Ginny," Draco said cautiously. "It's late and that is a very long and painful topic for some us." At that point he subtly inclined his head towards the blonde witch who had long tear trails running down her cheeks. "I would like to suggest that we discuss the topic tomorrow."

"Tomorrow! I want answers now." Ron demanded as he slammed his fist down on the table in front of him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Draco saw Luna flinch. It caused a sudden flare of anger within him. "Look Ron, you will get your answers but not today. Luna doesn't have the energy to revisit that part of her past at the moment."

"What does Luna have to do with the death of my father?" Ron snapped angrily.

"I think Draco might be right," Ginny said as she watched her old friend with concern. The tears were coming full force now and Luna seemed to be barely holding back her sobs as she stared at a fixed point on the table.

Ron wanted to push the issue but Harry sided with Ginny as well, "Tomorrow Ron. We've had a long day and we've learned a lot today. Taking the night to absorb the information wouldn't hurt."

"Wow this is a first. The Great Harry Potter and I actually agree on something. Dobby," Draco bellowed at the top of his lungs.

"Yes Master Draco?" Dobby answered as he appeared on the table in front of Draco.

"Show our guests to their rooms," Draco said as he rose from his seat. He placed his hand gently on Luna's shoulder and she seemed to startle out of whatever trance she was in. He whispered something softly to her that the others couldn't hear. She closed her eyes and rested her head against Draco's arm.

Dobby cleared his throat garnering Draco's attention.

"What Dobby," Draco snapped. He needed to get Luna to her room.

"Master's girlfriend is waiting in his bedroom sir," Dobby said with an evil twinkle in his eye.

Draco groaned, "I don't have the strength to deal with Natalie now. Can you get rid of her?"

Dobby's eyes widened in a panic, "No, she would hurt me."

Draco nodded. It was true that his girlfriend would hex Dobby if he tried to order her to do something.

"I will leave you to attend to solely to the guests then as I will be busy with Natalie for the rest of the night," Draco said.

Luna rose from her seat. She leaned heavily on Draco and he escorted her out of the room.

"Dobby is at your service Master Potter," Dobby said as he bowed dramatically in front of them.

"Dobby please, just call me Harry. I am no one's master," Harry told the old house elf.

"Does Hermione allow you to call her mistress?" Ron asked curiously.

"All the time," Dobby replied.

"I thought she was working to free house elves," Ginny commented.

"She did. We have our own charter by which we operate now. We choose to work where we want," Dobby told them.

"You choose to work here?" Ron asked incredulously.

"This is Dobby's home," the elf replied innocently.

Ginny shook her head in disbelief. How could anyone other than a Malfoy call this place home? Realising that they weren't going to get anywhere with this conversation she suggested that they see their rooms.

Dobby enthusiastically lead the way out of the dining room through another series of turns till they came to a large staircase. In Ginny's opinion it was quite creepy. The handrail on either side of the staircase was a large serpent with a head that reminded her eerily of the basilisk from her first year. She did however note, that the tail of the snake was similar to the rattlesnakes they saw when they travelled through the US.

At the top of the staircase was a large circular landing that had two seemingly straight corridors on opposite sides. The wall in front of them was filled with sleeping portraits of witches and wizards they assumed were past Malfoys.

Ron peered down the seemingly straight corridor.

"You should know that the corridor is charmed to appear straight. There are intersecting corridors and one can get lost up here," the portrait of Narcissa Malfoy said.

"Like a giant maze," Ginny repeated in admiration as she looked down the corridor with awe in her eyes.

"Ginny," Ron warned, during their travels Ginny had grown to love mazes and he knew, at the earliest possible time, Ginny would try to figure this one out. Harry on the other hand was very hesitant when it came towards mazes as it was an eerie reminder of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.

"Do we have to learn some complicated route to get to our rooms?" Harry asked.

"It appears my son is continuing with the trend of letting the riff raff stay here. Lucius is going to have a field day with this one. It's such a pity we are all locked into one portrait. I would love to hear what he has to say," Narcissa commented.

Dobby's face lit up with a huge smile "Dobby thinks that Harry Potter should stay next to Miss Hermione's room."

"Hermione lives here?" Harry blurted out surprised.

"No Miss Hermione only stays occasionally but still Dobby keeps Miss Hermione's room just the way she likes it," Dobby said flashing Harry a smile only Dobby could pull off.

"Oh," Harry replied as all hope that he could talk to Hermione tonight faded.

"Where will I stay Dobby?" Ginny inquired curiously.

"Miss Ginerva will be staying in the room next to Master Draco's," he explained. "Dobby thinks you will like that room the best."

"Ginny, call be Ginny." she corrected as she always preferred the nick name to her full name.

"What about me?" Ron asked

"Harry Potter's friend will be staying downstairs," Dobby said.

"Downstairs, why is Ron staying downstairs?" Harry asked slightly alarmed that they would be splitting up in unfamiliar territory.

"Miss Hermione said she observed you're still very much in love with food and Miss Hermione said to put you next to the kitchen so you won't get lost on your way there," Dobby explained proudly.

Ginny laughed, Hermione still seemed to know Ron very well. He had picked up a huge habit of midnight snacking during their travels and he particularly loved America where there were many food places that were open 24/7.

"Glad to see Hermione still thinks of me," Ron mumbled sourly.

Harry tapped Ron on the back. "At least she thinks of you, mate."

With a sharp crack another house elf appeared in front of Ron.

"I am Mindy sir. Please follow me. Your room has been set up," the tiny elf squeaked.

Ron shrugged, said his good nights to everyone and followed the house elf downstairs.

"Would Harry Potter like to go into his room?" Dobby asked anxiously.

"Dobby, please just call me Harry," Harry tried again.

"But," Dobby tried to protest.

"No buts Dobby. It's Harry. Anything else will just be an insult to me," Harry stated firmly.

"Dobby would never dream of insulting the Great Harry Pot…."

"Dobby," Harry said warningly.

"Yes Master Harry," Dobby said uncertainly.

Realising he would never get Dobby to just call him Harry, he accepted the name. Dobby then lead them to their rooms taking care to point out doors that should be avoided. Harry's room was first. He bid good night to Ginny and Dobby.

Ginny continued to follow Dobby. As the house elf promised her door was exactly four doors down from Harry.

"What is a Weasley doing in this house?" a voice she hadn't heard in years hissed.

Ginny turned around to face the portrait of Lucius Malfoy.

The house elf ignored the voice. "Don't mind him Miss. They've been trying to figure out a way to move that portrait from there but it appears the original Lord Malfoy used a strange type of dark magic to permanently fix that portrait there. It's the only portrait in the house that the other male Malfoy's are allowed to jump into."

"I'll do my best to ignore them," Ginny said turning back to her door.

Dobby soon disappeared leaving Ginny to her own devices. Her room was beautifully decorated and the large king sized bed looked very inviting. Dobby must have remembered that she was in Gryffindor because he chose a red and gold colour scheme for the room. It was quite nice but Ginny wasn't that fond of the colours. It brought back too many memories of Hogwarts.

She pulled a small trunk from her robes and placed it on the floor, she waved her wand in a series of movements and the trunk enlarged and the cover magically flew open to reveal all of her belongings. She summoned her nightgown as she had accumulated quite a bit of clothes over the years and Harry had advised her that it was always easier to 'accio' things out of the trunk than to dig through it. She assumed the bathroom was through the door on her left and she decided on a quick shower before bed.

* * *

Harry closed his eyes and begged sleep to take him, but it wouldn't happen as he seemed to be haunted by Hermione's tired face. His mind was racing and wouldn't allow him to escape reality just yet. He knew he desperately needed to talk to her, to apologize but that wouldn't happen tonight and he needed to rest. Frustrated with his insomnia, he opened his eyes and retrieved his glasses from the bed side table where he had tossed them earlier to survey the dark room. He could see the outline of furniture and he wandlessly lit the candles in the room to get a better look.

Dobby definitely knew his taste as the room was just to his liking. He looked at the wall and found pictures from his days at Hogwarts. There were pictures from 1st year straight up to the night before he defeated Voldemort.

"Dobby," Harry called hoping that the elf wasn't asleep.

"Yes Harry Potter sir," Dobby said enthusiastically appearing in the room out of thin air.

Harry frowned at him. "What did I say Dobby."

"Mister Harry," Dobby said hesitantly.

"That's better," Harry said as he gave the elf a small smile.

He returned his gaze back to the moving pictures on the wall. There was one muggle picture that was taken the night they stayed at Hermione's house when they were searching for the horcruxes. Harry wasn't too happy when the picture was taken as Draco was with them and Harry didn't trust him at all. Luna was also in the picture as she was on the run from the Ministry because of articles that her father had published in the Quibbler.

"Why are these pictures here?" Harry asked the elf.

"Miss Hermione put them here; she wanted you to feel at home." Dobby said.

"Oh," a guilty Harry mumbled as he hung his head in shame.

"Miss Hermione will be happy again now that you're back." Dobby said cheerfully.

Harry's head snapped up, he found it hard to believe that Hermione's happiness had anything to do with him. Her greeting wasn't as he had imagined in his head. She didn't run to him and hug him like she always did. She didn't throw a thousand questions at him about his journey but most importantly of all she didn't she kiss him on his cheek like she had started doing during the search for the Horcruxes.

"Dobby is there any way I can speak to her tonight?" Harry asked hopefully.

"No," Dobby stated simply.

Harry bowed his head in disappointment.

"Dobby did I make a mistake when I left?" Harry asked

"Harry Potter did what he needed to do." Dobby replied wisely.

Harry didn't even bother to correct Dobby this time and he absently walked back to bed.

"Would Harry Po," Dobby paused here and started again. "Would Mister Harry like some Dreamless Sleep Potion?" He asked softly

"Yes Dobby that would be great," Harry said as he sat on the edge of his bed. He hadn't needed that potion in a very long time and it was quite sad that he needed it on his first night back.

A potion vile appeared on the bedside table and Harry drank it in one gulp. He lay back on the bed and stared at the picture in the centre which Draco had taken during their search for Hufflepuff's cup. It was of him and Hermione in a park somewhere. Hermione was seated on a swing and Harry was pushing her from behind. With each rise of the swing towards the camera Hermione had a brilliant smile. He looked at the way the wind raced through her hair as he ignored her pleas for him not to swing her too high. She was truly the only person that made him happy during those times. She always made him feel like he could take on the world and that whatever Voldemort threw at him, he could handle. Why was he such a fool to leave her behind?

It was with that very thought that Harry drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Ron opened his eyes to the smell of breakfast lofting into his room. He briefly wondered where he was before the events of the previous day came flooding into his mind causing a painful sadness to suddenly fill him. His father had died and he would never be able to tell him how much he admired and respected him. He had always wanted his father to be proud of him and he wanted to tell him of all the adventures he had experienced, but now that wasn't possible. He felt the need for revenge but how could he kill Hermione. She had been his best friend and the reason that all of them were alive today. Seeking revenge from her would be wrong.

His entire family seemed fine with the death of their father. How could they not be angry with Hermione? He had wanted answers last night but they had denied him that. He was going to make damn sure he got them today.

Sunlight was pouring in through the window revealing the bright orange walls and orange bedspread. Ron realised his room must be on the east side of the manor and that he overslept as the sun appeared to be pretty high in the sky.

Mindy had created a door from Ron's bedroom straight into the kitchen and he had taken advantage of it last night for a bedtime snack. He was about to make himself a double-layered ham sandwich when she appeared out of nowhere and started putting together a meal for him. After a little while, he was able to explain to the tiny elf that all he wanted was a quick sandwich and the elf finally conceded and made him his sandwich.

He had tried to ask the elf several questions but each time the elf would annoyingly refer him to Master Draco. He eventually got Mindy to talk about herself. He found out that she had been recruited to the Manor to take care of Malfoy when he was an infant. She boasted at how she had helped raise Master Draco and what a wonderful person he had turned out to be. Ron had to try very hard to hold back the snide comment that threatened to erupt from his mouth.

Ron jumped out of bed and headed straight to the bathroom. After a quick shower and shave, Ron was dressed and ready for breakfast. He entered the kitchen to find Ginny seated at the table talking casually with Luna. Ginny and Luna both had plates full of ham, sausage, scrambled eggs and two slices of buttered toast.

"Morning," Ginny said cheerfully.

"What are you so happy about?" Ron asked grouchily as he took the seat next to his sister.

"Luna's been filling me in on all the gossip I missed while we were gone." Ginny said.

Luna smiled warmly at Ron.

"What would Wheezy like for breakfast?" Dobby asked as he appeared on the table in front of Ron.

Ron cringed at Dobby's name for him. Would he ever learn to call him Ron or Master Ron?

"He'll have what I'm having," Ginny said answering for Ron.

"I can choose for myself," Ron said defensively.

"Trust me, I'm saving you a lot of time and effort. It took me an hour and a half to get my breakfast. Dobby wanted to make all sorts of grand dishes that I had never even heard of." Ginny said as she raised a fork of full scrambled eggs to her mouth.

"Ok Dobby, get me what she has?" Ron said, he couldn't wait an hour and a half for breakfast, his tummy was grumbling now. A plate of food soon appeared in front of Ron and he wasted no time in getting started.

"Where is Harry?" Ron asked Ginny with his mouth full of sausage.

"According to Dobby and I quote" Ginny said throwing her hands in the air to form quotation marks, "Master Harry is sleepy, leave Master Harry sleep." Ginny said with a voice very similar to Dobby's. "Or at least it went something like that."

"Ginny don't make fun of Dobby," Luna reprimanded her friend lightly.

A loud argument could be heard on the other side of the door and Ron vaguely recognized one of the voices as Seamus's. The other he would know anywhere.

"Seamus it was quite obvious, how could you not understand?" Hermione asked exasperatedly.

"Hermione, not everyone is a super genius like you!" Seamus replied angrily.

"Oh for crying out loud, it was common sense," Hermione replied as she took a seat next to Luna leaving Seamus to take the last available seat next to Ron around the circular table.

"What seems to be the problem today?" Luna asked as she looked between Seamus and Hermione with a wry smile. Her tone conveyed that this was a regular occurrence.

Hermione was about to open her mouth to explain when Draco waltzed into the kitchen.

"Finnigan, how much of a dunder head can you be?" Draco spat out at him.

"See, he agrees with me," Hermione said in a superior tone to Seamus.

"Malfoy always agrees with you. You can argue the sky is purple and Malfoy would agree with you," Seamus replied angrily.

Luna was about to put in her two cents but Seamus cut her off.

"And don't you start Luna. I don't want to hear about what the Quibbler has discovered recently," Seamus said as Draco magically expanded the table to sit between Hermione and Luna.

Food appeared on the table and Hermione, Seamus and Draco started helping themselves.

"Thanks Dobby," Hermione said with an appreciative smile while loading her plate with scalloped potatoes.

"Lunch?" Ron questioned as he looked at the clock on the wall revealing that it was 11:30am. "Isn't it a bit early for Lunch?"

"Ron, I've been up since 4am this morning, it is definitely lunch time!" Hermione said as she continued to help herself to some stew chicken. "And I never thought I would hear you complaining that it was too early for lunch. Guess time really does change people."

Seamus happily helped himself to huge portions of corned beef while occasionally stopping to glare in Hermione's direction.

"Why do all Gryffindor males eat as if they have never seen food?" Draco asked as he looked between Seamus and Ron.

Seamus and Ron both glared at Draco across the table and Harry chose this moment to sleepily walk into the kitchen guided by Kreacher, who worked occasionally at the Manor when help was needed. The dreamless sleep potion Dobby had given him must have been extra strong because it usually only lasted a few hours but this time he was out for a good eight hours. His body was happy for the rest but his mind was still in turmoil. He saw Hermione at the table and tried to calm his raging emotions. A space was made next to Ron and Ginny for him and Harry eagerly joined them. Ginny ordered for Harry and he too was soon indulging in breakfast.

"It's lunch already," Harry asked as he observed Hermione's plate.

Hermione snorted and Harry figured he had just blown a very good opportunity to talk to her but was surprised when she looked up at him and appeared to be contemplating what to say.

"I brought Hedwig's cage for you. Dobby will put it in your room for you though I must warn you Hedwig hasn't been in it for over six years," Hermione said softly.

"Thank you for taking care of her for me," Harry said sincerely.

"She was a bit moody at times but I enjoyed her company," Hermione said as she chewed her bottom lip.

"You can keep her if you want," Harry offered sensing Hermione was a bit sad about returning Hedwig.

"No she's yours, I'm sure she'll warm up to you soon," Hermione responded. "Besides, Crookshanks is happy to have the house to himself again."

"How is Crookshanks?" Harry asked as he remembered Hermione's orange fur ball.

"He's good," she replied happily. Harry thought it was starting to feel like old times again.

"Hermione, why did you have to kill my father?" Ron asked bluntly interrupting Harry and Hermione's conversation.

"Didn't you discuss that last night?" Seamus asked as he lifted his head from his food and was met with a death glare from Ron. "I guess not," He commented before he returned his gaze back to his food.

The coldness that they experienced in the ballroom descended again on the kitchen and Hermione squeezed Luna's hand.

"He asked me to kill him Ron," She said as she swallowed the lump that had suddenly blocked her throat. Mr. Weasley was the first person she had ever killed and it was the hardest thing she had ever had to do in her life.

"Yes I heard that before but I want to know why?" Ron said irritably. He couldn't picture his father ever asking someone to kill him. He wasn't the suicidal type.

"He was infected, Ronald. If he had died naturally, it would have meant the death of every human being on earth," Luna said softly as a layer of moisture could be seen in her eyes. She had spent the entire night trapped in the nightmare of her memories. She was never a Gryffindor with courage to face them but she needed to because she genuinely wanted Ron to know the truth. He deserved to know his father was brave man.

"Infected with what?" Ron demanded.

"A magical virus," Luna said squeezing Hermione's and Draco's hands for support.

"A virus?" Ron questioned

"Your father was infected with a magically altered version of the Ebola virus that once fully incubated in its host, would become an airborne contagion that would be unstoppable," Draco said with a slight hint of sadness in his voice. Mr. Weasley had shown Draco what it was like to really have a father and he taught him the value of love. Draco was quite surprised to discover that he missed him greatly after he was gone.

"Why would someone want to alter the Ebola virus?" Harry asked as he couldn't comprehend what they were saying.

"His name was Nicholas Prince, a distant cousin to Severus. He had chosen to hide in the muggle world during the war. He had become an animal activist and hated the way muggles treated animals. When the war finished and he returned to the wizarding world, he found that he hated the way the wizards treated animals as well. I first met him on a trip to Estonia to classify a new magical species of Flobberworm that had been found there," Luna reminisced lost in those happy memories of when she thought she was in love.

"We became…..close and I shared with him the stories that my father had told me. He was as intrigued as I had been and he joined me on some of my expeditions. It was I that took him to Africa, where he first learned about the virus. He had been infected with it while we were searching deep in the jungles for the African Skrewt. Fortunately, the local magical community had discovered a cure for it and after fighting the virus for a week he recovered physically but his mind wasn't the same after that," Luna said sadly as she clung to Hermione for support.

"He was bonkers!" Seamus interjected at that point only to receive a hard punch on the arm from his Auror partner.

"He told me he wanted to research a cure for muggles and I set him up with a lab," Luna revealed.

"You couldn't have known," Hermione said, "I didn't even realise what he was doing until it was too late."

"To cut to the chase," Seamus interrupted, "Nick was crazy and he wanted all humans magical and muggle dead!"

Hermione ignored Seamus and continued with her explanation, "He magically altered the virus so the wizard cure wouldn't work. He also added a new symptom. The Prince Virus presented with pustules on the skin like a pox disease but these pustules were supposed to pop after a few days and release the airborne version of the virus. The first few versions weren't that virulent but the last version had wiped out an entire town and any emergency response crew that didn't wear hazmat suits. By the time I figured out what was going on it was too late. He had already infected Arthur and over a hundred other hosts with the virus and like all other villains felt the need to confess to whoever would listen. Apparently, he felt that humans had destroyed the planet and caused all manner of creature harm because of our destructive tendencies and as result determined we were the scourge of the earth and needed to be removed. He left us no choice but to destroy all the hosts of the virus before it spread out of control."

Harry and Ginny sat in shock and Ron thought this sounded like a bad joke.

"It's no joke Ron," Hermione admonished.

"How did you know what I was thinking?" Ron said defensively.

Hermione shrugged. "It was written all over your face. We used to be rather good friends Ron, or in seven years, have you forgotten what our friendship was like?"

Ron was about to retort when Harry kicked him under the table. That last thing he wanted was a fight with Hermione.

Hermione's cell phone began to ring and Harry recognized the tone as Fur Elise.

"Hi," Hermione said as she answered the phone.

Harry puzzled over how her cell phone worked in a magical house. After a while he saw Hermione's face light up in a big smile. She still had the same radiant smile that he remembered from Hogwarts.

"Sure we can make it. Ok I'll let him know, bye." Hermione said.

"What did you get us into?" Draco said with narrowed eyes.

"Just another one of my mom's parties. She says she's found the perfect girl for you Draco." Hermione said sweetly as she winked her eye at him.

Draco groaned, "Not another blind date. I don't know who is worse, your mom or Molly."

Luna giggled as her sour mood had magically vanished again. "Any date for us?"

"As a matter of fact Luna, we get to go single!" Hermione boasted happily.

"That's not fair. I'm calling your mom now," Draco said as he pulled out his own phone.

"Hello, Mrs .. ah yes, sure. Ok. Yeah, we'll be there on time. Ok. Yes I'll do it. Ok bye." Draco said as he dismally put down the phone "Why don't you ever stop me when I try to call your mom."

"Cause it's fun watching you get into trouble?" Hermione teased playfully.

Draco glared at her.

"So spit it out. What does she want you to do?" Seamus asked.

"You're going to have to get an invite to find out!" Draco said as he turned away from the auror and faced Ginny instead.

"So Ginerva, got any boyfriends?" Draco asked casually.

"Ginny," She hissed at him.

"Leave my sister alone ferret face!" Ron exclaimed.

Before their fight could escalate Neville arrived. "Who's up for some cleaning?" he asked in a cheery voice as he came through the door.

"Cleaning what?" Ron asked.

"The Manor," Neville said innocently as he waved his hands about his surroundings.

"Oh hell no! I ain't cleaning anything Malfoy related!" Ron insisted.

Draco smiled evilly at Ron. The wizard wasn't going to know what hit him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very sorry for the long wait between this chapter and the last. There was a lot I needed to fix with this chapter to get it to flow the way I wanted it. Hopefully 7 should be out next week Friday.


	8. Howler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

Ron was steadfast in his decision not to clean Malfoy Manor. Draco disappeared from the table for a few minutes while Neville explained why the Order was asking them to assist in cleaning the Manor. The Malfoys had a tradition of passing the ownership of the Manor from father to son through a few magical spells. Lucius Malfoy had died before he could magically sync his son to the Manor. As a result the Manor doesn't recognise Draco as the owner and doesn't give him the right to go anywhere he pleases. Draco only has the rights of the heir to the Manor and as far as the wards and spells are concerned, Lucius is still the owner. There are several areas of the Manor that Draco can't enter and the Order has been working on a way to undo the magical spells that prevent entry.

Draco returned a few minutes later with a smug smile on his face and sat down at the table. Hermione tilted her head to the side to study him. Harry watched them lock eyes. A silent conversation seemed to go on between them with Hermione frowning slightly. He assumed she was expressing her dislike for whatever Draco had done. It unnerved him to see his favourite Gryffindor witch so close to the Slytherin he loathed the most.

A brown owl flew into the kitchen and delivered a red envelope straight to Ron. Ron's eyes widened. Harry still remembered the one Ron received in their second year from Mrs. Weasley. It had been horrifying. Ron stared at the howler.

"It's best to open it Ron," Hermione advised, "Those envelopes have no patience and we are not cleaning up whatever mess it makes."

Ron continued to stare at the envelope.

"Oh for heaven's sake I thought the Gryffindors were supposed to be brave and yet you're scared of a little red letter," Draco sneered.

Ron glared back at the Slytherin and then opened the letter, much to Draco's amusement.

"Ronald Bilius Weasley! Draco has so kindly agreed to put you up and you turn around and repay that kindness by nastily saying you will not help the Order clean the Manor! I am sorely disappointed in you. I know I didn't raise an ungrateful child. Now stop stuffing your face full of food and pick up a broom and clean. You don't want to make me come over there any earlier than I had planned!" the voice of Molly Weasley bellowed from the envelope at such a loud volume that made everyone wince.

"Taddle tale!" Neville said as soon as the envelope finished.

"I prefer to think of it as an efficient management of time. I am not going to sit here all day and debate with him about cleaning the Manor," Draco said before turning to Luna, "I think we should start with the Dark Room. I thought I heard some noises coming from there the other night," Draco said thoughtfully.

"I told you, what you heard was Nargles mating," Luna said as she finished up the last of her breakfast.

Draco was about to dispute the existence for Nargles when a loud beeping noise went off causing everyone to quickly cover their ears from the piercing noise.

Seamus hurriedly reached into his robes and pulled out a black oblong stone. He tapped it once with his wand and the noise abruptly stopped.

"Must that thing be so bloodly loud?" Draco muttered angrily.

"I still don't understand how you two do covert opps with that stone," Neville stated as he looked intently at it.

"What is that?" Ginny asked as she looked disdainfully at the offending object.

"It's a communicator stone. It allows Kingsley to call us when we're needed." Hermione stated in a professor's tone.

"More like summon his slaves," Seamus added grudgingly.

Hermione calmly reached into her robes and pulled out a similar stone and tapped it once with her wand.

"How come yours didn't make that sound?" Harry asked as he noted Hermione's graceful movements.

"Because this one vibrates like a cell phone, Seamus slept through a page once and Kingsley personally set his stone to wail like a Banshee. He hasn't slept through one page since, but we got to get going, I'll be damned if Cormac beats us." Hermione explained calmly to Harry before yanking a reluctant Seamus out of his seat and heading towards the door.

"Do you need any help?" Harry asked curiously. He didn't want her to go just yet.

Hermione turned around and examined Harry's features. His warm green eyes held a lot of concern for her wellbeing and she knew he sincerely wanted to come with her. She also knew he was a stubborn hero and he might get himself killed. Suddenly, she had a flash back to her recurrent nightmare of the last few months and a pale Harry looked up at her with cold dead eyes. She shook herself from that disturbing picture; she would not allow that to happen.

"No," Hermione said firmly leaving no room for argument.

"I wonder what's wrong." Neville asked as he took Seamus's vacated seat.

"Can't be anything to bad or the order would have alerted everyone," Draco pointed out.

Dobby appeared at the table. All the dishes disappeared and were replaced with cleaning utensils.

"It's cleaning time. Molly suggested that Neville, Potter and I'll handle my father's personal study, Ginerva should do the kitchen pantry, Luna and Ron will sweep the Dark Room and if the Aurors had stuck around, they were to do the potions lab," Draco said.

"This place has a potions lab?" Ginny asked surprised.

"The Manor has everything a wizard requires," Draco said smugly. "Come on Potter and Longbottom let's get a move on. I have business meetings to attend to this evening."

**S-2**

Luna and Ron stood in the drawing room of Malfoy Manor. Ron was staring at the lighting fixtures on the wall that looked like they were made out of gold. Everything in this Manor was so lavish.

"You're going to have to get off the rug Ron," Luna commented.

"What rug?" Ron asked looking down to see that he was in fact standing on a rug that picture a castle in the desert.

"The Dark Room is under the rug. I thought you might want to stand to the side while I move the rug. From previous experience I have discovered that most people don't like it when the rug is pulled right out from under them," the blonde witch shared with him.

Ron nodded absently remembering a similar Muggle saying. He had felt like the rug had been pulled out from underneath him over the last two days. He also remembered in second year when he and Harry had used Polyjuice potion to disguise themselves as Crab and Goyle to enter Slytherin house. Draco had revealed a secret room to them. Ron had immediately written his father and the Ministry raided it shortly afterwards. That room had to be the Dark Room.

While Luna levitated the rug to a spot in the corner of the room, she explained that the Dark Room had been the first placed cleaned when the Manor had become the headquarters of the Order but recently Draco suspected they might have missed something. She then focused on the solid wooden floor that the rug had been covering. She performed a series of complicated wand movements while stating incantations that he had never heard of. He watched her completely astonished that she was capable of such strong magic.

"What you thought it would be easy to open a well-hidden secret door?" She queried in a sarcastic tone.

"Ahh no," Ron said reluctant to reveal that he had thought so little of her. "Shouldn't the Order have removed this?" Ron asked.

"Why? It's a great hiding spot and the wards around it are very complicated. We had Kinglsey wipe all records of the Ministry's raid here, so only a few people know of its existence," Luna explained seriously.

"Oh" was all he could reply.

The dark hole in the floor opened up and Luna walked regally forward. Ron's hand automatically shot out to stop her from entering the hole. It looked bottomless and all of his senses told him to stay away from it lest he plunge to his death.

"Relax Ron," Luna said while gently prying his fingers off her wrist. She continued to walk forward until she stepped down into the hole. Half of her calf appeared to be cut off into the darkness below.

"There are steps. Just follow me down," she said as she went down another step, causing the rest of her calves to disappear.

Ron swallowed. He always hated illusion spells. He walked forward and carefully moved his foot towards the edge of the darkness. He slowly eased his foot down, watching as it disappeared from his sight. Eventually he felt solid ground beneath his foot and he transferred his weight on to it. His next foot followed.

"There are no giant spiders lurking around down there?" Ron asked hesitantly.

Luna rolled her eyes at him, "There are worse things than spiders Ron."

Luna continued descending the staircase until she had disappeared into the darkness.

Ron followed suit but stopped just before his head submersed into the darkness. He lit the tip of his wand and found that it did light about three feet in front of him and he could see the stairs. He wondered why the hell Luna hadn't done that earlier and spare him the heartache. She was just on the edge of the lighted area when she stepped out of view.

"Wait," Ron called out in a slight panic as he took sped up to catch up to her.

He found her three stairs lower. She had stopped and turned to face him. Ron felt as though her blue eyes were looking straight through him.

"Shouldn't we be cautious? I thought I heard Malfoy say there was something down here," Ron said as he looked uneasily behind her.

"Not yet, when we reach the bottom. It's a long way down and there's a charm at the bottom to prevent things from leaving. You wouldn't believe some of the things that Lucius kept down there," Luna said as she resumed her calm descent down the stairs.

Regardless of what Luna said Ron was still very worried. It was indeed a rather long staircase and he hated that his wand only lit a few feet in front of him at a time. Luna would occasionally step out of range of his light and Ron hurried to keep up with her. He wondered how the witch could descend the stairs so quickly in the dark. Suddenly Luna paused and Ron stopped ready to throw the first hex that came to mind.

"There's a bend here that leads into the room," Luna said as she turned her blue eyes on him. The wand light added a slight twinkle to her eyes and he thought she had gone stark raving mad. His light only showed stairs with two solid walls on each side. What bend could she be talking about?

"Just follow me Scully," Luna said with a humours tone and Ron wondered if she could possibly be referring to the muggle TV show " _The X Files_ ".

Ron watched as she descended two more stairs before disappearing into the wall on the left. Ron almost dropped his wand in shock as he heard Luna's disembodied voice telling him that the wall was charmed to look as though the staircase continued straight and the entrance was charmed to look as the wall. It was kind of disturbing to hear Luna's airy voice and not see her.

Luna's head popped back out, "Ron are you going to stand there and catch Pixies in your mouth or are you going to follow me?" her disembodied head said in an annoyingly calm voice.

Ron closed his mouth and sucked in his gut. "I'm not catching Pixies," he said angrily as he descended four stairs and turned left, hitting a solid brick wall.

"Bloody Hell," Ron exclaimed as he rubbed his nose.

Luna giggled softly, "Come back up one step," she said in a reproachful voice

Ron stepped back up and put his hand on the wall he was to walk through. When his hand slowly disappeared from his sight, he thought it safe for his nose and stepped forward. He felt a cold shiver as his body passed through the illusion charm. He emerged into a black room lined with shelves, unusual instruments and a foul stench that made Ron want to puke.

"I thought you said you cleaned this placed!" Ron exclaimed sourly as he tried to pinch his nose closed only to discover it was very sore from his earlier collision with the wall. He would have to live with the smell.

"We did but as we stated before, we missed something," Luna said with her usual calm voice as she peered around the dark room.

"Why is it so dark and what is that?" Ron asked pointing to the shelf nearest to him where a white ball hovered in the air.

"Iapetus Malfoy, Draco's great grandfather, apparently enjoyed dark colours and painted this place black. He had charmed the paint so that future generations of Malfoys would not be able to change the room that he designed. We estimate that the paint won't come off for another hundred years and nobody has the time to try and counteract the charm, besides its great if you're in a depressing mood," Luna said as she began to walk further into the room.

Ron got the distinct feeling that Luna spent a great deal of time in this room which made him worry about the witch's mental health. He couldn't tell the dimensions of the room and he realised that the further Luna headed into the room the less he could see of her. If she ventured to far he would lose her completely and Ron lengthened his stride to keep up with her.

"How are we supposed to find anything in here?" Ron asked.

"Rhea Malfoy, Iapetus's wife organized things magically. Call for what you want and it will come to you," Luna explained.

"But if we don't know what we want how can we call for it?" Ron asked.

"Usually if you give a very close description the item will come to you," Luna replied nonchalantly.

Ron had the instant image of an acromantula the size of Aragog being summoned to him. He decided to stay away from descriptions that involved the number eight.

"How big is this room? Couldn't we just search through it?" Ron asked opting for an option that would not have unknown objects flying at him.

"It isn't very big, probably as big as the standard Quidditch pitch," Luna answered.

Ron understood but he disagreed with a Quidditch pitch not being very big. Ron was beginning to shiver as the cold air cut through his shirt and caused unwanted goose bumps.

"Aren't you cold?" Ron asked as he wrapped his hands around himself.

"The cold is nice, it matches what I feel inside," she said glancing at him briefly. "I could cast a heating spell on you but Phymsies are attracted to heat."

A slow rumbling noise erupted through the room and Ron turned quickly in the direction of the noise. He raised his wand and blood red eyes were staring at him from a distance away.

"This isn't good," Luna said with a slight tremble in her voice that really caused Ron to re-evaluate the situation.

His heart started to pound in his chest as a surge of adrenaline went through his system. He could feel a slight panic that he hadn't felt since the war, threatening to take control of him. He felt Luna step closer to him and slide her hand into his. She slowly tugged him back towards what he hoped was the entrance. Ron kept his eyes trained on the creature as Luna steered them away. He became increasingly alarmed as the eyes slowly disappeared into the darkness in front of him.

"Can we go a bit faster?" Ron whispered when he couldn't see the eyes anymore.

Luna slowed down and told Ron to be ready in case it attacked. That response did nothing for Ron's nerves and he imagined a horde of spiders converging on them from each side. After a few heart-wrenching moments they were out on the stairwell and Ron was yelling at Luna at the top his lungs.

"Are you trying to kill us? I asked you to speed up and you slowed down. That thing could have attacked at any moment."

"Did it?" a calm Luna asked him.

"Did it what?" Ron snapped at her.

"Attack," she said watching him straight in his eyes.

"No but that's not the point," Ron said angrily.

"That is the point Ronald. If you had turned and ran out of there as fast as you could it would have attacked. That creature was a bloodhound. It senses fear. In fact it prays on it. If you had turned and ran it would have pounced on you in no time. The fact that we left calmly and slowly meant we weren't suitable prey and it ignored us," Luna explained irritably.

"Bloodhound, it wasn't a spider?" Ron asked as he scratched his neck embarrassed.

"Most spiders have eight eyes Ronald," Luna said as she rolled her eyes at him.

A slight colour tinted Ron's face and the tips of his ears, "How did one of those get in there?"

"Now that's the million galleon question," Luna said as she started the ascent back up the stairs towards the pinprick of light that they could see in the distance.

**S-3**

Lucius's study had never been touched as the wards were proving to be quite difficult to break through. It seemed like the task that would take a team of wizards days to complete. Neville had recently come up with an ingenious idea to break through the wards and he was hoping it would be successful.

Harry reluctantly stood besides Draco as Neville placed a thorny plant in front of the door to the study. The wards were set to attack anything that wasn't Lucius. Once the wards were tripped, the door was locked and the windows were shut. The anti-apparition ward around the study increased in strength and nothing was allowed in until Lucius reset the wards himself. Naturally, the wards haven't been reset for the last seven years and the study had been locked to everyone.

Neville's idea was to use the plant to distract the wards. Once attacked the plant would shoot its thorns at its attacker. What was special about these thorns, were that as soon as they left the mother plant, a new plant would shoot from the thorn. Thus, eventually the attacker would be over loaded with multiple plants. It was a chain reaction that could overwhelm even the most trained wizard. Neville was hoping that the multitude of plants would cause the wards to use most of its energy in attacking the plant. Once all the magical energy was used on dealing with the plant, they were going to attempt to unlock and open the door from a safe distance. If the door opened, they were going to run through the mass of plants and hopefully make it into the office unscathed.

Harry hoped that once the wards were down, it would be easily sailing from there. Draco was sure inside had more protection but he didn't believe it would be in the form of a ward. He thought it would be something subtler to trick the intruder into doing something deadly.

The wards, as predicted, had started attacking the plant and pretty soon there was a jungle of plants in front of them. It required Harry, Draco and Neville to combine their magic to disable the wards and open the door. The new challenge was getting through the plants unharmed.

Draco turned to Neville just before he sprinted forward, "Stay here, I want these plants gone by the time I get out."

Neville was about to argue but Draco had already run forward trying unsuccessfully to avoid the spray of thorns as he dived over the plants into the open study. Harry reluctantly followed behind. Neville was left by himself staring at the mass of plants in front of him. The plant was still multiplying and he was reluctant to move them. He thought he would let them settled down before he attempted to move them. He struggled to transfigure a few pieces of furniture to act as a physical barrier so the plants would not wander through the house. When he thought the barrier was sufficient, he decided to check on Ginny in the parnty.

**S-4**

The problem in the kitchen pantry was a mystery. Food was disappearing from the room and the house elves didn't know why. The elves insisted that there was dark magic behind the disappearance of the food and they wanted the problem solved. Mindy refused to enter the storeroom anymore and Dobby was forced to do most of the cooking.

Ginny had been sitting in the storeroom for the last half an hour and still had no clue what to do. She had done a preliminary scan and found no traces of dark magic. She then asked Dobby for a list of all the missing items as well as the approximate date and time of the disappearances. The parchment Dobby gave her was at least twenty feet long.

She was hoping that there might be some pattern to it but some items weren't noticed missing until they were looking for them. A good example of that was Toad's eye, an ingredient mainly used in beauty potions. The last time it was checked was some time last year and nobody noticed it was missing until earlier this year. Ginny could not determine any pattern for the time of the disappearances. She then studied the items to see if they were items for a particular potion or recipe but Ginny didn't know of anything that required that amount of ingredients.

Ginny stared down the long length of the pantry again. It was the length of the great hall at Hogwarts and each wall was lined with various ingredients. As Ginny looked along each shelf she realised that the majority of the ingredients she didn't recognize.

"How're you doing?" said a quiet voice from the doorway.

Ginny spun around and came face to face with Neville, who was leaning casually at the storeroom entrance. His hands were crossed in front of him and it only served to emphasize his small potbelly.

"Fine," Ginny mumbled.

"Any signs of our thief yet?" Neville said as he moved from the entranceway towards her.

"I have no clue what's going on. I checked for signs of dark magic, I looked over the list of stuff taken, I looked at the time taken and I can't seem to find a pattern to anything," Ginny said exasperatedly.

"Well you seem to be as stumped as we are," Neville said as he surveyed the large storeroom causing Ginny to follow his gaze.

"What is all this?" Ginny asked indicating to the mass of ingredients on the shelves.

"The cooking ingredients are up front on the first few shelves. After that is healing ingredients, then ingredients for some of the draughts, then for some nasty potions and so on and last is the alcohol," Neville said pointing to the back of the room.

"How can you tell where they start and stop?" Ginny asked

"You see the slight difference in colour along the vertical support shelving?" Neville asked

Ginny looked closer and she could indeed see a colour difference between different sections.

"That's how you tell the difference," Neville said as he walked to the back of the storeroom.

"Where are you going?" Ginny asked.

"For some firewhiskey, I'm going to need it to clean up that mass of plants outside the study," the Hogwarts Professor told her.

"I didn't think you were the firewhiskey type," Ginny stated with a small smile as she followed him.

"I wasn't, blame this on Dean and Seamus," Neville said as he picked up a bottle and poured himself a small amount in a shot glass he had picked up from the kitchen. He downed it in one gulp and offered the bottle to Ginny but she refused. He resealed the bottle and placed it back on the shelf.

"Was that wise?" Ginny asked indicating to the drink he just took.

"Not really but it certainly makes me feel better. I better get back," Neville said as he started walking back to the exit.

"You left Harry with Draco?" Ginny said very concerned. The last thing they needed was Harry being charged with Draco's murder.

"Relax, they're fine. Draco can take care of himself," Neville said.

"Why is everyone so relaxed around Draco? He is a Slytherin," Ginny pointed out.

"Ginny, you're probably not going to believe this but with his parents out of his life Draco has changed quite a bit. We've been a good influence on him and I think if you give him a chance you might like the new Draco," Neville said looking her squarely in the eye something he had always been shy to do before.

"I'm impressed. You never had this much confidence before," Ginny commented as they both walked towards the door.

"Thanks, I've been working on it." Neville said with a cute smile that made Ginny wobble slightly on her feet.

"You ok?" He asked with concern in his voice.

"Yeah, must be the dust in here," Ginny said as she walked ahead of him to hide the slight blush that appeared on her cheeks.

Neville let his eyes rove Ginny's body. She certainly had kept her lean figure and she still carried that air of confidence about her. She had gone to the yule ball with him in his fourth year but nothing happened after that. He wondered if he could make things happen this time.

"I'm going to head back to the study. You can come and help if you want. Nothing much seems to be happening here," Neville said charmingly.

Ginny looked into the empty room. There was nothing there. She certainly wasn't accomplishing anything just sitting in the pantry so she decided to accompany Neville but before they could leave Fred and George appeared.

As soon as the door to the pantry closed a soft yellow glow appeared around a few items and once the glow subsided five more items were missing.

**S-5**

Harry and Draco paused when they entered the study and immediately looked around for any attacking objects. Once they were satisfied that they were both safe Harry and Draco stopped to remove the thorns they had been bombarded with. Draco used his wand to remove them and incinerated them as soon as they cleared his robes. Harry was standing scowling at Draco.

"Potter, the thorns of that plant multiply or did you not notice that! Kill it now before I have a horde of those plants in this office," Draco spat nastily at him.

"Listen Malfoy, let's get a couple things straight, shall we," Harry said ignoring Draco's advice. "One, I'm not your friend, so don't speak to me as if I am. Two, I don't trust you so don't pretend to be trustworthy and three OW!" Harry exclaimed as pain burst through his arm.

One of the thorns on Harry's arm had started growing and it was trying to put roots into him. Harry brushed it off quickly but he was soon in enormous pain as multiple thorns wanted to root into him. He frantically tried to get rid of the terrible plant but he realised with horror that as he threw the growing plant off it would start coming back to him as if he was its mother.

Draco watched the scene with a huge smirk, "Gee Potter, I guess you found yet another adoring fan."

Harry managed to get the thorns off of his wand arm so that he could remove the other thorns around his body. By the time he was finished he was exhausted and in pain. He was going to sit down but Draco discouraged him as they didn't know if the chairs were jinxed. Harry decided to take Draco's advice this time and remain standing.

"Now Potter, let's get a few things straight," Draco said with that annoying smile of his. "One, I am not your friend nor will I ever pretend to be. Two, I don't trust you. Who knows how long you'll be here before you get bored and leave and Three, I saw you watching Hermione, hurt her again and you're dead," Draco finished in a threatening tone.

Harry was about to retort but Draco cut him off.

"Now that that's finished, let's get down to business," Draco said as he pointed his wand around the room scanning for dark magic.

Half way through their scanning, they heard a loud noise followed by Ron Weasley screaming at the top of his voice.

"Why did that sound like one of the twins' pranks?" Draco asked suspiciously.

"Whatever it was it pissed Ron off," Harry said as he focused on his friend's distressed voice.

"The ward is down, we'll come back later. I sure hope Neville moved that damn plant," Draco grumbled as he opened the door to be greeted with a crowded hallway full of plants and no way to get out. Draco slammed the door shut and turned to Harry.

"We're going to have to burn our way out Potter," Draco said "You ready."

Harry nodded and they were both out the door in a flash.

**S-6**

Ron was covered in red fur that he disliked intensely. He was screaming madly at the twins but they ignored him. Instead they prodded and poked him and recorded his reaction on parchment they held in their hands.

"I'm not some wizard to experiment on!" Ron screamed as they circled him.

"Hmm slight blood pressure rise," Observed Fred or was it George. Ron was too angry to tell his brothers apart.

"What is going on in here?" Draco said as he entered the kitchen with Harry.

"Nothing," Fred and George chorused together.

Draco couldn't withhold his laugh nor did he try when he saw Ron. Harry on the other hand tried very hard to suppress his laugh and ended up clearing his throat in a very suspicious manner.

"Undo this now," Ron demanded

"Subject objects to state," George noted in a clinical voice.

"Gee, I wonder why?" Ron screamed at him.

Luna, Ginny and Neville were there when the twins first tricked Ron into shaking their hands which were coated with a special liquid that triggered hair growth. It was absorbed through the skin and moved quickly through the body.

"What are you guys doing here?" Draco asked pointedly.

"Isn't it obvious!" They declared as they pointed at Ron.

Draco levelled them with a steely gaze eerily reminiscent of the late Lucius Malfoy. The look sent shivers up Ginny's spine as it reminded her of the time Lucius had captured her during the war.

"We reserved the club in Hogsmeade for a private Weasley party. We need to celebrate their return without the party poopers," Fred said.

"We made sure that nobody would be there except us. It's perfectly safe for them. Nobody will see them," George insisted.

"And your wives know about this?" Luna queried.

"They will be told later today," the twins assured Luna who nodded though the twinkle in her eyes suggested that telling Alicia and Katie would not go as smoothly as the twins seemed to think.

"And your mom," Draco asked his voice laced with scepticism.

"Will discover when she has all the children to baby sit!" They responded.

Draco snorted. "This is going to be entertaining," he mumbled only loud enough for Harry to hear.

"Good, start getting ready, tonight's going to be a blast," Fred and George said as they left the room.

"Wait," cried Ron as he ran out of the room after them but it was too late as they had already disappeared down the corridor.

"It'll wear off soon," Luna assured him kindly.

"How can you be so sure?" he spat at her.

"Because it lasted two hours on Draco," Neville said with the hint of a smile of his face.

Draco glared at him for reminding him of the terrible experience. Malfoy's weren't hairy creatures and to suddenly be inundated with hair was quite a traumatic experience for him.

"He made the cutest polar bear," Luna reminisced fondly.

"Enough talk, Neville needs to pick up the burnt remains of his plants!" Draco sneered at him.

"You burnt them all!" Neville asked horrified.

"They were in the way," Draco replied in a haughty tone.

"But that was my only one. They're extremely rare and hard to find," Neville declared.

"How could they be rare?" Harry asked knowing how that plant had reproduced hundreds of smaller ones in minutes.

"Nobody ever attacks them, so they don't reproduce," Neville explained with a shrug.

"Oh" Harry said as the answer made sense. Now that he knew what would happen he sure as hell would not be picking a fight with that plant any time soon.

"Relax Neville, the original plant is still there. I left it untouched for you," Draco revealed.

A huge smile broke out on Neville's face. "Thanks, you had me there for a second. You're spending too much time with the twins."

"Well, what you're waiting for go clean up the mess," Draco demanded.

Neville rolled his eyes and exited the room.

Draco turned to Luna, "What was in the dark room?"

Luna fidgeted for a bit knowing that Draco wouldn't take the answer very well, "A Bloodhound."

Draco's face drained of all colour, he was deathly afraid of bloodhounds. He had been attacked when he was four and the experience left him with terrible nightmares.

"That wasn't there before," Draco stated firmly.

"I know someone must have put it there recently," Luna said

"Who would put a bloodhound …" Draco stopped halfway through as the answer came to his head. He frowned and left Luna in the room with a red howler monkey, Ginny and Harry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	9. The Wise Portrait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

Draco returned to the kitchen a few minutes later with his wand gripped tightly in his hand. His face was flushed and his eyes held a dangerous glint.

"Flitwick said to bring them along," Draco said to Luna as he casually waved his wand in Harry, Ginny and Ron's direction.

"Watch where you point that thing!" Ginny said uncomfortable with the way it was pointed at her.

"Draco, can't this wait till later?" Luna asked calmly.

"No she put her blasted Bloodhound down there. She knows I hate them. Flitwick says her last class finishes in half an hour. We're going to settle this," Draco said angrily as the vein at the side of his neck started to throb.

"But," Luna tried to protest.

"Let's go. The fireplace is this way," Draco said as he headed out the door.

Harry looked curiously over at Luna. She sighed and got off her seat.

"Someone has to go with him before he does something stupid," Luna said. "You all better come as well. Professor Flitwick actually does want to see you."

"Where are we going?" Ginny asked.

Luna turned around, she thought it was quite obvious, "Hogwarts."

"I'm not going to Hogwarts looking like this!" Ron commented.

Luna looked him over critically, "It's not that bad but if you want to stay I'm sure you can start cleaning another room."

"I'll come, if only to ask Professor Flitwick about a charm I can use on my idiot brothers," Ron replied quickly.

They followed Luna out the door through a series of turns to the circular room. The second time passing through the ward wasn't as bad as the first and only Ron felt the urgent need to throw up. Luna conjured a bucket for him. While they waited for Ron's stomach to settle Harry took a deep breath and mentally prepared himself for the visit. The last time he had been at Hogwarts was the final battle. He hadn't been back since and he was hoping it would be a bit longer before he had to return there. A few minutes later they were flooing to Hogwarts.

They emerged in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts. Harry was half expecting to see Dumbledore behind the desk but the sight that greeted him was another painful reminder of everything that had happened. Professor Flitwick had indeed made the office his own and the only familiar objects in the room were the pictures of the previous headmasters. Harry searched for the one picture that he wanted to talk to and was greatly disappointed to find it empty.

"Welcome, Welcome." Professor Flictwick said from behind his desk. He had a special chair charmed for him to match the height of a normal desk. In front of his desk were two normal size chairs that looked quite comfortable.

He noticed that Draco wasn't anywhere in the room. Luna cheerfully greeted the new headmaster and promised that Draco would not damage the school or any of the students in attendance before she headed towards the spiral staircase that Harry knew so well.

"Please sit. We have a lot to discuss," Flitwick said as he conjured an extra chair for Ginny to sit in.

"It's good to have you back Mr. Potter, and you to Mr. Weasley and Ms. Weasley," Flitwick said cheerfully.

Harry took a seat followed by Ginny and Ron. As Harry sat in the chair, it slowly started transforming into a cushioned recliner.

"The chairs are charmed to change into whatever the user wishes to sit in. It's quite interesting to see what people like, particularly my students," Flitwick revealed.

Harry looked uncomfortably at Ginny and wished for a different type of chair and it instantly changed into the stool he used to sit in when he was in class. Ginny decided to keep her massage chair but Ron decided to changes his futon to a stool similar to Harry's.

"You three have had quite an adventure. Let's see," Flitwick said as he summoned three thick files to his desk. "Greece, Colombia, Egypt, Brazil, Australia and the list goes on."

"How do you know where we've been?" Ron asked slightly alarmed.

Flitwick looked directly at Ron with a gaze that reminded Harry eerily of Dumbledore and he briefly wondered if Flitwick was also a skilled Legilmens.

"We've been tracking you since you left," he said honestly. "We were a bit concerned especially in the beginning with a few of those incidents you had."

Ron turned bright red at the mention of the incidents. In the beginning muggle customs were very alien to him and he often made embarrassing mistakes. There were a few times that he used magic and they did their best to cover it up. Harry always thought the stories they made up were a bit weak but now he knew the truth. Someone from the magical world had been covering for them.

"How did you find us?" Ginny asked voicing the question that was on all of their minds.

"Miss Granger, of course, you really didn't think you'd be able to hide from her? She also came up with some very innovative ways of tracking you," Flitwick said.

"Hermione knew where we were?" Harry asked in shock. He couldn't believe she knew where they were the entire time and never let them know. He always imagined himself running into her by accident and he was absolutely sure she would have screamed her head off at him. This Hermione certainly wasn't the Hermione he knew before the war.

"Yes she was aware of where you were. It was very difficult for her but eventually she decided that everything happens for a reason and there was some reason why she was not involved in the next leg of your adventure. Very wise of her, at times she reminds me of Albus. Honestly, I don't know how we would have made out had Hermione joined you on your journey. I truly think she's satisfied with the way things have turned out," Flitwick said honestly.

"Did our parents know?" Ron asked hesitantly.

"Yes, your father was very proud of you Ron, especially after the incident in Africa with the poachers. That required a lot of bravery to stand up for those innocent creatures. I believe it even bought a tear to Hermione's eye," Flitwick said proudly.

Early in their seven year journey, Harry had expressed an interest in going on an African Safari. They travelled to Nairobi where they settled down for some time. It was on a trip to Mount Kilamanjaro in north eastern Tanzania that they encountered three poachers chasing a herd of elephants on the plains that surrounded Kilamanjaro. Ron bravely pulled their vehicle up in front of the poachers and requested that they stop their actions immediately or they would call the appropriate authority. The poachers responded by shooting at them. Ron, with the help of a little magic, managed to disable them and they turned the poachers in. There was a bit of a celebration and Ron got his name in the local newspapers. He was quite the hero among the animal rights activists and Harry remembered that he was quite popular with the women as well.

"Why didn't you notify us when daddy ..." Ginny tried to ask but found it extremely difficult to convey the fact that her father had died.

"At the time you were in a monastery in Tibet, your mother felt it best not to burden you with the news. She was having a hard enough time convincing Fred and George that revenge wasn't the answer," he explained to them. "I don't think she could have handled the return of you three on top of that."

"But how did you track us. We were very careful," Harry pressed.

"How is not important. What's important is why two days ago you packed up everything in Taiwan and then made a beeline to England. This wasn't a planned visit Harry. Did you have a premonition?" Flitwick asked in a steady voice.

"Premonition?" Ron and Ginny exclaimed.

"I see you two aren't aware of the premonition Mr. Potter had before his fight with Voldemort," Flitwick said.

"What premonition Harry?" Ron asked as he turned his attention towards his best mate.

Harry bowed his head. He hadn't told anybody but Hermione and Remus.

"A few months before the final battle I had this reoccurring dream. I was at Hogwarts. I died," Harry said as he stopped to clear the mysterious lump that had formed in his throat. It was still difficult to talk about the final battle.

"The point is Harry was able to use this dream to defeat Voldemort," a familiar voice said from a portrait on the wall, sparing Harry the ordeal of revealing a few personal details he had kept private for so long.

Harry spun around and came face to face with the portrait of Albus Dumbledore. He was smiling sympathetically at Harry and his eyes seemed to convey that he already knew why Harry had come back.

"How did this dream help you?" Ginny asked Harry.

"Hermione did some research and reluctantly concluded that it was some type of premonition. She really didn't like the idea of a premonition so she thought on some subconscious level my mind was trying to visualize how the final battle would proceed and it was showing me in my dreams. She was convinced my fate could be changed and that I should learn from the mistakes I made in my dream and not repeat them in the final battle. Every night before I went to sleep she would suggest alternatives to try. With each attempt the dream changed slightly but it always had the same result. It wasn't until the final battle that I finally understood what it was that I had to do," Harry revealed.

"She told me she was helping you with your occlumency before you went to sleep," Ron said a bit frostily. He had been dating Hermione at the time and he had been insecure about the amount of time she spent with Harry at nights. She told him that he need not worry about their relationship but then she broke up with him a month before the final battle. He was beginning to wonder if Harry's premonition had something to do with it.

"She did that too," Harry said automatically defending Hermione.

"So Mr. Potter, did you have a premonition?" Flitwick asked getting back to the point of the conversation. He was not interested in rehashing the past. The present was what mattered and if there was a new threat that needed to be dealt with, he needed to know it now.

Harry nodded sadly.

"We're waiting Harry," Dumbledore prodded gently from his view on the wall. There was a grunt of agreement from the rest of the portraits.

"I saw Hermione die," Harry said coldly.

There was absolutely no reaction from the current headmaster or the portraits.

"I see, are there any other details you could supply for example when, where, how?" Flitwick asked.

"It was snowing so it must have been winter, I don't know where but she was shot through the heart," Harry revealed.

Flitwick steepled his fingers in front of him and thought for a while.

"A muggle weapon, interesting. That would mean it would be connected to one of the muggle/wizard cases. Winter starts in three months we have a lot of work to do if we are to prevent this tragedy," he said firmly as he looked at the paintings on the wall causing a few to scamper from their paintings and head to some unknown destination.

"I agree Filius but the first step would be to re-introduce these three to the wizarding world," Dumbledore suggested. He was one of the few portraits that had remained in the office.

"Yes Albus, you're right," Flitwick agreed.

"Have you three given any thought to what you want to do?" Dumbledore asked them.

Before they could answer the door opened and Professor Snape came storming in.

"Before you discuss anything with them they have to take the vow! I will not have the safety of the order compromised again," Snape stated angrily.

"Severus, we understand your concerns but I assure you they are no threat to the order," Flitwick said calmly.

"They must take the vow. All members have taken the vow. You cannot show favouritism towards them just because they are Molly's children," Snape sneered in his usual manner.

"What vow are you talking about?" Ginny asked.

"Are you familiar with the unbreakable vow Ms. Weasley?" Snape asked as he narrowed his black eyes at her.

"That's what you and Narcissa Malfoy did," Ron stated.

"This is similar but not as deadly. You take a vow that bounds you to the order and prevents you from revealing details of the order to outsiders. The vow also forces you to be true to the goals of the order so you cannot pledge to help the Wizarding world and then leave it. The vow would not allow that," Snape said stressing the last part to Harry.

"Severus, they will take the vow in time but there are others things that need to be dealt with immediately," Dumbledore said

"If you're referring to Draco, I believe my wife is doing a nice job of honing his defence skills at the moment," Snape said proudly.

Flitwick waved his wand and a map of the castle appeared on the wall. It was similar to the Marauder's map but it carried greater detail. There were parts of the castle displayed that Harry never knew existed. He was greatly surprised to discover that the headmaster had such a map.

Dumbledore laughed a light happy laugh. "Harry you look very much like your father when he saw this map for the first time. You honestly didn't think that your father and his friends were the first persons to develop a map of Hogwarts?"

Harry didn't know how to answer. He never really gave any thought as to if the teachers had such a map. He did however think to ask one question. "It you had this map why didn't you ever punish us for all the times we were out after curfew?"

"That was Filch's job and he did enjoy catching students. I didn't want to take the fun away from him. Everyone has their own journey in life and I dared not interfere in that. This map was created for one purpose, the safety of the school and it is only to be used for that purpose," Dumbledore said

"So it was created by the founders?" Ginny asked

"Very good question Ms. Weasley but the founders didn't create this. It was created many centuries afterwards and it has been added to by the various headmasters," Flitwick waved his wand and numerous different initials were added to the map. "Those initials belong to the Headmasters who added that piece of the map. I myself haven't found anything to add yet but I'm sure I will. Hogwarts has many secrets."

Harry looked at the map and smiled as he saw AD where the Room of Requirement was. AD was also written on the Chamber of Secrets and it served as a sombre reminder of what Harry had gone through. There were hundreds of dots on the map and Harry took special notes of the places he had yet to visit.

"It appears their duel is over. I think I'll head down to the hospital wing and see if I can broker some sort of peace deal. I believe you have a class in five minutes Severus and as I can see most of your class is assembled in the dungeons except for a few stranglers," Flitwick said pointing at the map. "You wouldn't want to be late now would you?"

Snape's face soured and he reminded the headmaster that things weren't over yet before he left with the familiar billowing of his robes.

"You three can feel free to explore for a while. Draco will be here at least another hour," Flitwick said as his chair shrank down so that he would be able to stand easily and not have to jump down from a height.

Harry, Ron and Ginny stood and Harry indicated to them to go ahead of him. He wanted a private word with Dumbledore. They consented and left Harry alone in the room.

"What's the matter Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"Did I do the right thing?" Harry blurted out.

"It is not for me to say what is right or what is wrong. What is important in life is that you learn from you mistakes," Dumbledore said kindly.

"Are you saying it was a mistake to leave?" Harry asked as he bowed his head to stare at a spot on the floor

"I'm not saying anything but I can offer one piece of advice Harry. Follow your heart. If you were truly happy travelling, then continue to do that but if your heart is calling you here, then you'll never be happy anywhere else. I must go now. Ms. Granger is requesting a consultation," Dumbledore said a bit distracted.

Harry's head snapped up at the sound of Hermione's name and Dumbledore's blue eyes met his. "In time, Harry. In time."

Dumbledore's portrait was left empty and Harry found he wasn't very comfortable in the office anymore. He decided to explore the new areas of Hogwarts that he had just learned existed.

* * *

Ron, still looking like a monkey, decided to raid the kitchen. The house elves wouldn't care what he looked like. He had missed their cooking and was anxious to get some decent pumpkin pie. He moved through the familiar corridors to the portrait of the bowl of fruit. He tickled the pear and was instantly let into the bustling kitchen. The house elves were busy preparing the evening meal and only those nearest to him stopped. They looked at him with big eyes before they offered him a variety of food. Ron took a treacle tart off of the first plate offered to him and instantly felt guilty. They had travelled the globe and Ron had seen many injustices. He finally understood Hermione's SPEW. The house elves didn't deserve the treatment they were given. Ron reached into his robes and pulled out a galleon. He offered it to the house elf he had taken the treacle tart from.

"No sir. I am paid enough already. Cloud doesn't need anymore," The house elf insisted as he bowed and moved away.

Ron smiled. Hermione had stuck to SPEW. He wondered if other house elves were paid and how much the ones at Hogwarts were paid. Knowing how little Dobby accepted for work he was sure paying the house elves had not put a dent in the Hogwart's budget.

* * *

Ginny sat silently under a tree by the lake as she remembered the many times she came out there. The happiest she had been was with Harry but their relationship was not meant to last.

"Mind if I join you?" Neville asked

"Sure. I thought we left you back at the house," Ginny said as Neville sat down besides her.

Neville snickered. "Susan needed me to get some moss out of the lake for one of the potions Draco needs to take."

"You have to go in there?" Ginny said pointing to the lake.

"Not really the moss stays near the surface. If you go after it, then it will sink away. The trick is to use your wand to light the surface of the water. The moss will come to it and you can just pluck it out of the water," Neville said in a professor like tone.

"Interesting," Ginny replied

"Nah not really," Neville replied honestly.

Ginny laughed.

"You've changed Neville. You used to agree with everything I said," Ginny said with a slight smile.

"I guess I finally found my Gryffindor parts," Neville boasted proudly.

"You always had it Neville," Ginny corrected.

Neville baulked at the idea. "I don't think I was very Gryffindor when I was tripping over my own robes."

"You were always too hard on yourself Neville. You were there when it mattered and that's all that counts. You never let us down," Ginny said softly.

"You sound like Hermione. She likes to remind me of that whenever I feel like wallowing in self-pity not that I do it that often anymore," Neville said lightly

They sat in silence for a while before Ginny decided to break it "Shouldn't you be getting that moss?"

"Nah not yet, Draco can wait. I'm sure he can cope with a little bit of pain," Neville said happily.

"Why does everyone trust Draco? He's from Slytherin," Ginny asked curiously. It had really been bothering her.

"Ah the old Slytherin argument, Draco has the brain of a Slytherin but the heart of Gryffindor. Don't ever tell him I said that. Draco's whole problem is he thinks too much with that Slytherin head and never listens to his heart," Neville explained.

"But.." Ginny tried to argue.

"Despite Draco's attitude problem, he has proven himself many times to the order. He came up with the idea of the vow and was the first person to take it. I won't say he's not capable of betrayal because we all are but I would trust him with my life. Do you know why Draco and Hermione are so close?" Neville asked her.

"I just got back, how am I supposed to know that?" Ginny asked exasperatedly.

"Good point. After the war Draco did six months in Azkaban for his crimes. He should have served a life sentence for his use of an unforgivable but because of his help in defeating Voldemort, the Minister gave him six months. He got out a few days after you guys left and moved into the Leaky Cauldron."

"The Leaky Cauldron?" Ginny asked

"That's another long story but when you visit your mother ask her about the initial cleaning of the manor," Neville said with a cocky smile.

Ginny nodded.

"Now, where was I, ah yes, Draco moved into the Leaky Cauldron and had been living there for about two weeks before he was approached by Corneilus Barteby."

"Who?" Ginny asked with a look of bewilderment on her pretty face.

"A minor criminal, his name isn't important but what he tried to do is. He wanted to align himself with Malfoy and use his business influences to further Barteby's criminal enterprises. Draco fresh out of prison, was not eager to return to Azkaban and being Draco he insulted the man first then rejected his offer. Barteby didn't take that lightly and ordered his henchmen to kill Draco. Now, the MLE's had been following Barteby for the last month but the Aurors got involved when he ordered Draco's death," he explained while she keenly listened.

"Draco bumped into a very depressed Hermione in Knockturn Alley. Barteby's gang attacked at that point disabling Draco first. On instinct Hermione reacted and with the help of the Aurors, who were pretty close by, they were able to apprehend them. Hermione had now saved Draco's life twice, if you count the time during the war, and in return he brought her out of her depression. The incident also gave Hermione a purpose in life, something she thought she was lacking. She decided to become an Auror to help people and do some good in the Wizarding world. Draco decided to use his business influence for good but he has a side business that attracts a lot of dark activity," Neville explained carefully.

Ginny looked alarmed at the mention of the side activity. "Don't worry the side activity is run by the order. It's a way of finding out what's going on in the criminal world. It gets Draco into trouble sometimes but it's never been anything we couldn't handle," he said with a sexy smirk.

"What ever happened to Barteby?" she asked

"The wizards refused to testify against Barteby so there was no case. He runs a restaurant in Diagon Alley. I would stay away if I were you. He has a grudge to grind against Hermione and he would definitely jump at the opportunity to use you to do it," Neville advised.

Ginny made a mental note to avoid the restaurant. "What's the name of the restaurant?"

"You'll know it when you see it," Neville said with a twinkle in his eyes.

Ginny smiled at him before another thought hit her, "How does Luna fit in?"

The twinkle in Neville's eye disappeared instantly, "Hermione and Draco helped her pick up the pieces after the Nicholas Prince incident. The bonds they've formed seem to be unbreakable."

"A Gryffinor, Slytherin and a Ravenclaw," Ginny commented, "They're only missing a Hufflepuff."

Neville gave her a sad look, "There was a Huffflepuff once but that is another story for another day. I better get going. I have a class to teach in ten minutes and I need to get this moss to Susan. See you around Ginny," he said with another heart stopping smile.

Ginny felt herself blush. She discovered that she liked the person that Neville turned into and she was looking forward to the next time she saw him. She watched him stick his wand in the lake and then bend over to grab the moss. Despite his pot belly, his rear end looked rather nice and Neville turned around to find Ginny staring at him. She blushed again and waved at him before he headed back to Hogwarts.

Ginny sat there for a while before a young girl, who looked eerily like Cho Chang, came to inform her that she was to return to the Headmaster's office. Ginny thanked the girl and joined her for the walk back to Hogwarts. She could see the girl peering at her out of the corner of her eye and she knew the girl was just bursting to ask her a question. Fortunately for Ginny, Professor Snape had ordered the girl to keep quiet and her fear of Professor Snape was the only thing stopping her from asking Ginny the million questions on her mind.

* * *

Harry walked calmly along the seventh floor corridor that lead to the Room of Requirement. He had walked this path many times in his fifth year and he wondered how many students used the room these days.

"Harry Potter!" an angry voice called out after him causing him to spin on the spot.

"Hermione!" Harry said surprised by her sudden appearance.

"Don't play innocent. Phineas told me why you came back!" She said as she got closer. Her cheeks were red and she was slightly out of breadth making Harry assume she had run around the castle looking for him.

"Hermione," Harry said calmly as he reached to take her hand but she pulled it away from him.

"I'm a big girl Harry. I don't need you here," she spat at him angrily.

"I'm not going anywhere," Harry said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. He needed to have a word with the portrait of Phineas Black. He had always been under the impression that what happened in the headmaster's office was confidential.

"You were fine leaving the first time!" Hermione pointed out.

"I'm sorry about that. I just needed time to think," Harry replied softly.

"Seven bloody years!" Hermione shouted at him.

"I may have taken a bit too much time but I'm back and I'm not going anywhere," Harry told her firmly. He held her fiery gaze but what surprised him most was the fear that he saw in her eyes. Her eyes used to hold so much warmth and he remembered the comfort he had drawn from them on the many nights that she had forced him to practice his occlumency.

"I want you to leave Harry. You don't belong here," Hermione told him breaking his gaze. He had always been able to read her better than anyone else.

"I don't believe that," Harry responded as he reached his hand up to her chin and gently turned her head to face him.

"It's true. You're better off elsewhere. Trust me on this," Hermione repeated holding his gaze.

"I'm right where I belong. You and I both know that," Harry repeated. "I don't know why it took me so long to realise that but as I talked with Dumbledore I realised why I was never truly happy wherever I was."

"You have to leave," Hermione insisted.

"Why do I have to leave Hermione?" Harry asked. He couldn't understand why she was so insistent on it.

She cast him one angry glare and then walked away from him. He watched her walk away from him just as she did over seven and a half years ago. They had been right there in that same corridor when he had confessed to her that he thought it was hopeless and that he was meant to die in the final battle. She had been quite upset with him. They argued for a long while and somehow he ended up kissing her. It had been the most passionate kiss that he had ever experienced but he soon broke it as thoughts of Ron filled his mind. Hermione stormed off and he thought he had ruined his friendship with her. He was quite surprised to discover from Neville later that night that she and Ron had broken up.

He stood there for a few more minutes. Normally he would let Hermione cool off but he wasn't sure anymore. He didn't know if to chase after her or to leave her be. He knew she was hiding something from him but he didn't know what. She had always figured things out before him and she would usually share them but the fear that he had seen in her eyes scared him. Whatever she was hiding from him, it was very important.

BREAK

Luna had been sent to retrieve Ron from the kitchen. She arrived at the correct portrait and fondly tickled the pear. The door swung open and she walked into the kitchen to find Ron with an apron marked 'kiss the cook' on.

"What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"Learning to cook pumpkin pie!" Ron exclaimed happily.

Luna didn't want to sound like a dumb blonde but she had to ask "Why?"

"It's the one thing muggles can't cook correctly. I really craved this," Ron said as he waved his flour covered wand around.

"And people think I'm crazy," Luna muttered under her breathe.

"What was that?" Ron asked

"We're ready to go," Luna said politely.

Ron's face fell, "already?"

"Yes now clean up let's go," Luna said firmly. She felt like a mother talking to a six year old.

Ron gave her a puppy dog face but she insisted it was time to go and he reluctantly cleaned up and followed her out the door. They followed a series of corridors up to the headmaster's office. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Harry emerged from behind a suit of armour.

"Jeez mate, you scared me," Ron said slightly peeved.

"Sorry," Harry said with an apologetic face. "I was checking out some of those new places no the map."

They walked in silence until they reached the gargoyles that guarded the entrance to the headmaster's office.

"Short feet," Luna said and the gargoyles jump aside.

Harry and Ron both turned to each other with amused faces. They followed Luna up the spiral staircase until they entered the office. The last thing they ever expected to see was Hermione and Ginny in the middle of a duel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	10. Defence Lessons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

Harry watched in horror as Hermione goaded Ginny to throw a hex at her. He could tell she was still mad from their earlier argument and she appeared to be taking it out on Ginny. He stepped forward to interfere with the duel but Flitwick signalled for him to stop. Luna whispered softly that they didn't have to worry. They watched as Ginny threw a curse that Hermione easily avoided and it absorbed into a shield that surrounded the duelling witches.

"This is going to be so boring," Draco said emphasizing his boredom with a yawn. The blond Slytherin was on one of Flitwick's chairs which had transformed into a soft leather recliner for him. He looked a little paler than usual and there were a few nasty bumps on his face. He certainly had come out on the losing end of his duel.

"Ginerva, your skills are a bit rusty," Hermione teased as she circled the redhead witch.

Ginny's frustration grew and she threw three successive curses but failed to hit Hermione.

"It's a good thing no warlock attacked you while you were away. You'd be dead," Hermione continued to taunt.

"You can't compare me to that!" Draco said pointing at Ginny.

"Actually, Ginny's slightly better than you," Hermione told him without taking her eyes off of her opponent.

He instantly sat up at her revelation and Ginny stopped to laugh at the horrified look on Draco's face. Hermione chose that opportunity to strike and before Ginny even realised it, everything went black. The next thing she knew she was waking up on one of Professor Flitwick's chairs.

"I think I've proven my point," Hermione said confidently.

"Which was?" Ron asked angrily from his sister's side. He and Harry had rushed to her when she fell. Ron easily scooped up his baby sister and placed her in the chair next to Draco.

"You need to practice your defence skills. If you're reintroduced to the wizarding world there would be several wizards interested in testing their skills against yours. The Iron Wizards would be particularly interested in Harry," Hermione explained nonchalantly as she eyed one of the portraits on the wall.

"I agree, the three of them and Draco should take lessons from Severus and Victoria starting tomorrow evening," Professor Flitwick stated evenly.

"I don't need defence lessons," Harry and Draco both growled.

"Maybe not Mr. Potter but at least you should know what you're dealing with," Professor Flitwick said to Harry before turning his gaze to Draco, "And I don't think I need to point out the beating Victoria gave you today."

Both wizards were far from happy with the headmaster's request.

"I don't need any frelling lessons," Draco whined. Ginny noted the reference to the muggle television show _Farscape_ and she briefly wondered when he started watching muggle TV.

Hermione glared at Draco, "Either you take lessons from Victoria or I'll duel you every day until you improve!" she barked reminding Harry vaguely of Kingsley Shacklebolt when she gave orders.

"What time were those lessons again?" Draco asked innocently as he looked at Professor Flitwick.

"I hate to interrupt the beginning of their lessons but I suggest that they start on Monday. Tomorrow is Mrs. Granger's party and Sunday is lunch at the Burrow. If the lessons need to begin immediately I'm sure Hermione and I could do a complete review with them tonight before Monday," Luna said serenely.

"Very well, but we must decide how to re-introduce them to the wizarding world," Dumbledore said from his portrait on the wall.

"What makes you think they're staying?" Hermione asked acidly.

"We're staying," Harry answered, his gaze fixed firmly on Hermione's back. He wished she would turn around and talk to him.

A flurry of white wings flew through the open window and landed near Hermione.

"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed happy to see his owl. She acknowledged him this time as Hermione took the letter that was fixed to her talons. He hoped that if Hedwig could warm up to him that Hermione would as well.

"Can't they ever do anything without me!" Hermione said in frustration as she crumpled the letter and threw it in the fireplace. "I have to go. Seamus is in St. Mungos."

"Is it serious?" Luna asked fearfully.

Hermione shrugged.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Draco reassured from his place on the recliner.

"Ms. Granger, please be careful. I fear that there is more going on than meets the eye," Flitwick said to his former student. She nodded before grabbing a handful of floo powder and leaving.

Silence prevailed before Victoria Snape strolled gracefully into the office with three books tucked under her arm. She sneered at Draco before pleasantly greeting Luna.

"I've brought these books for you," She said as she looked at Ginny, Ron and Harry.

"They list all the common defence spells as well as the new modern spells that have popped up. I expect for you to know every spell in here before our first lesson," she explained in a kind lecturing voice that annoyed Ron.

"There has been a slight change of plans," Draco spat at her. "We start on Monday."

She threw an angry look at Flitwick. "He is the Malfoy heir. He should be much better than he currently is. A few of his new associates will be testing his duelling skills and he needs to pass the test."

"Oh we're back to that again. It's Croney, there's no way I could fail," Draco said confidently.

"I would like to be 100% sure that this deal goes through. Draco, sometimes I don't think you fully comprehend what's at stake. This deal will give us insights into the plans of various criminal organizations. Your father was…"

"Stop comparing me to my father! I am not like him nor do I aspire to be anything like him," Draco screamed angrily as he stood from his chair and hobbled over to the fire place. He reached for the floo powder, called out Malfoy Manor and disappeared in the green flames that appeared around him.

"That boy needs to learn to control his anger. He could learn a few things from you Luna," Victoria said as she watched the empty fireplace.

"You could stop referring to his father," Luna advised.

"His father had a few good aspects. Regardless of what he did, he was a good business man and he could use his wand impressively," Victoria said defending the man she had once had a school yard crush on.

"I hope she's referring to the wand he brought at Olivanders," Ron said under his breath to Harry who quickly stifled a laugh as Victoria Snape's head snapped in his direction. She scowled at him and Harry was very happy that he was not in her defence class.

"It deeply upsets him to be compared to Lucius. If you ever want to be a proper Godmother to him, you need to put aside your thoughts on his father," Luna told her softly.

Victoria held her head high and gave everyone a curt nod before leaving. Her departure brought Neville's arrival and Ginny found she was quite happy to see him again. "Filius, I need to take these herbs to St. Mungos immediately. I've asked Severus to keep an eye on my second year class," he explained quickly. As he walked into the fireplace he turned around to face Ginny, winking quickly at her before the Green Flames erupted around him. Ginny found her stomach doing butterflies and she could feel a warm flush on her face.

"We should leave as well. Thank you for your time headmaster," Luna said politely.

Harry thanked him as well for letting them explore the school and soon they were all gone.

"Albus," the short headmaster said to the portrait on the wall after his guests departed. "I fear what's to come."

* * *

Harry stood in the centre of a large room in Malfoy Manor. It was a training room where the Malfoy line practiced their magical abilities. It was shielded from the Ministry and young heirs could practice magic without fear of being caught violating the underage magic rule. Generations of Malfoys had learned dark magic in this room and Draco had revealed that he himself spent hours during the summer practicing under his father's tutelage.

Luna was trying to assess if their skills were still adequate. She thought that Ginny had slowed down quite a bit and Ron didn't think fast enough to block hexes but she was satisfied that they hadn't let their skills degrade completely.

She was now facing Harry and she wondered if she could defeat him. They did the customary openings and Harry immediately started throwing a string of hexes at her. She put up a shield faster than Harry expected and replied with some similar spells. He easily avoided her spells as he had remained in excellent physical condition. He tried a few unusual spells that he had learned during the war but Luna successfully evaded him. Luna conjured a frog and it distracted Harry long enough for her to do a complicated wand movement. When Harry realised that the frog was a distraction the spell had already been thrown at him and he knew he couldn't avoid it. Instead he tried to shield but it didn't work. He watched horrified as the spell penetrated his shield and struck him in his left shoulder. He felt no pain but his left shoulder went completely numb. A slightly out of breath Luna stopped to observe his reaction. He tried to undo the spell but any use of magic on the area caused extreme pain.

"Harry you're as good as you ever were," Luna said proudly "But as we suspected the newer spells that you are unfamiliar with are difficult for you to handle. This is an example of one. The numbness in itself isn't threatening but the spell cannot be blocked by conventional means and any attempt to remove it by magic causes severe pain. At this point in a duel you are completely incapacitated," Luna explained.

"But I can still use my wand to fight," Harry argued.

"Try it," Draco dared him with a smirk. He loved seeing Potter incapacitated.

Harry raised his wand and attempted a spell only to feel a sharp pain in his shoulder.

"The spell is sensitive to magic. Once you try to use magic it will trigger a painful reaction in your body," Luna explained.

"He could always fight the muggle way," Ron offered.

"This spell was invented by a muggleborn to prevent physical attack from muggles. It wasn't until it was used upon a magical person did the entire effect of the spell present itself. The pain is an unforeseen side effect that's been misused by the criminal underworld. Try to walk towards me Harry," Luna said.

Harry tried to walk forward but with every step he felt more parts of his body growing numb. He felt as though each one of his feet had a fifty pound weight on it and just trying to move an inch required a lot of energy. Eventually, he reached the point where he could no longer move his feet and this left him in an unbalanced position causing him to fall over stiffly to the floor.

"How could a person create such a spell?" Ginny asked horrified as she ran to assist him on the floor.

"The motivation to create spells comes quite naturally when you have a desire that needs to be met," Hermione said as she walked gracefully into the room.

Harry was immobilized on the floor facing away from her. He could hear her footsteps on the floor and he knew she was walking towards him. He sensed her walk around him and he was horrified by how exhausted she looked. She desperately needed a break. She was over worked and it was with that thought in mind that Harry decided what job he wanted to do now that he had returned to England. He watched helplessly as she surveyed his body and judging by the sudden burst of pain he felt, he assumed that Hermione had used magic to examine him as well.

She bent down and whispered in his ear, "Forget that thought and leave. This should be proof enough that you were better off travelling the world."

She stood and surveyed the room before commenting "Creevey's spell is quite amazing."

"Colin Creevey?" Ron asked astonished as he remembered the annoying boy that always took pictures.

"No, the younger brother, Dennis, apparently he used to be bullied as a child and well into adulthood. He formulated the spell to keep bullies away from him and he managed to make it difficult for the Ministry to track," Draco explained in a disinterested tone.

"How is Seamus?" Luna asked suddenly.

"Stable but he'll be at St. Mungos a while," Hermione said gravely as Draco came over to her and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"What happened?" Draco asked curiously.

"He doesn't remember," she responded.

"Did you try reading his mind?" Luna asked.

"He's too fragile for that right now and the healers don't think he's mentally prepared to relive what happened yet," she said as she yawned tiredly. It had been a very long day for her.

Hermione's cell phone rang with a different tone than the one Harry had heard earlier. Draco immediately started telling her not to answer it. She ignored him and pulled the offending object from her robes.

"Yes Cole," an irritated Hermione called into her phone. She listened to the person on the other end of the line while Draco groaned and gestured wildly for her to hang up but she responded to Draco by turning her back on him and Harry was glad to know that he wasn't the only one that received that treatment.

"I'm sorry but I can't help. Seamus is in the hospital and I have to finish working this case before I take on another," Hermione explained. There was a pause as she listened to the person on the other end of the line before she started speaking again. "The Aurors are all busy. I understand that it's important and I know many lives are at risk but we can't spare anyone right now. Surely it can wait a few days, it's just a surveillance of a warehouse."

There was a pause again before an angry Hermione started screaming into the phone. "Don't give me that lecture Cole! You out of all people should understand how much I regard life!"

She cast an angry eye at Harry on the floor, who had been straining to watch her as she spoke on the phone. An idea occurred to her. If he wanted to stay, perhaps a first-hand look into some of the work of an Auror might change his mind. What Cole described to her on the phone was a run of the mill check for magical sources, nothing too dangerous and definitely nothing Harry couldn't handle. "I could send someone else. I promise they have the skill of an Auror and they are very familiar with Muggle ways. You won't be able to tell that he's a wizard. He'll be in your office shortly but before you go, can you find out who imported a large portion of leopard's eye for me?"

Hermione gave a small chuckle and closed the phone. She glared at Draco.

"I warned you not to talk to him. I knew he was going to make life difficult for you," Draco replied haughtily.

Hermione arched her eyebrow at him, "Last week you said he wanted to get into my panties."

"Last week he did want to get into your panties, this week he's upset that he didn't get into your panties last week so he's giving you extra work to do!" Draco reasoned.

Hermione chose to ignore Draco's comment and she pulled a vile, full with purple liquid, from her robes. She reached down and gently cradled Harry's head with one hand as she used the other to pour the contents of the vile slowly into his mouth. She had to be careful that he didn't' drown on it. She gave him a few seconds before she pulled out her wand. After a brief consultation with Luna about where the spell struck Harry she placed her wand on his left shoulder. In a matter of seconds, feeling started returning to his muscles and he realised that he had strained a few of them trying to move. She helped him to sit up and then looked straight into his eyes. She seemed to be weighing what she was about to say to him.

"Harry," she said uncertainly. "I know it's been a while but the Aurors are over worked right now and MI5 needs a wizard to assist with a case they're working on. I can't send anyone else at the moment. I know you're thinking about this and this would be a good opportunity for you to see what the easy cases are like. All you have to do is just scan for magic."

"I'll go," Harry said immediately. He had to prove to her that he could do this and that she was wrong about whatever reason she felt it was that he needed to leave. There was also the other aspect that he could never say no to her.

She summoned a candle holder and turned it into a portkey. She then asked to borrow Luna's cell phone.

"This is Luna's phone. My number's on speed dial as well as Draco's and the twins. If you need anything call. Just one thing though, don't tell Cole you're the famous Harry Potter." Hermione advised before continuing on. "This portkey will take you directly to Agent Cole Steele's office. He will brief you from there," Hermione said as she handed him the portkey and watched him disappear.

"What did you ask him to do?" Ron asked alarmed as Harry disappeared.

"He'll be fine. This isn't nearly as dangerous as taking on Voldemort and the Death Eaters. On a scale of easy to hard this is super easy," Hermione said.

She yawned again and Dobby appeared by her side.

"Mistress Hermione is tired," he said knowingly.

"Yes Dobby," she said giving the elf a kind smile.

"Dobby has prepared your room." he said with bright eyes.

"Thanks Dobby, I'll go upstairs and take a quick rest," she said as she didn't want to hurt the elf's feelings.

"Good night miss," Dobby said as he hugged her leg tightly.

Hermione carefully extricated the elf from around her leg and departed the training room. As soon as she was out of hearing range Draco spoke. "Did you get it Dobby?"

Dobby turned around and displayed Hermione's cell phone in his hand. "Miss Hermione will be able to sleep without interruption," he said proudly.

"Pass it here Dobby," Draco said holding out his hand but he was sorely disappointed when the elf defiantly gave the cell phone to Luna instead of him. Dobby knew very well that Hermione had banned Draco from using her cell phone after he chased away not one but four of her muggle boyfriends by shouting at them over the phone.

"Dobby!" Draco exclaimed only to have the elf stick his tongue out at Draco and disappear.

Luna and Ginny both burst into fits of laughter while Ron stood in wonder at the elf's actions.

"He learned that from Hermione!" Luna commented once the laughter had calmed down a bit.

* * *

Harry arrived in an ordinary office with a desk, a computer and framed certificates on the wall.

"Ah you've arrived," A tall man with dark hair and piercing blue eyes said as he came through the door. He closed it quickly behind him and sat at his desk. He picked up the phone and asked someone called Lisa to make sure he wasn't disturbed. Once that was done he closely examined Harry.

"You're the wizard she sent?" he asked.

"I suppose you're agent Steele," Harry asked coolly.

"Agent Cole Steele, you can call me Steele," he said as he extended his hand for Harry to shake.

"Harry," he said shaking the extended hand. He took Hermione's advice and only used his first name. He shook it firmly adding a little extra pressure for good measure. The man didn't flinch away but made sure to squeeze back equally hard.

"Please take a seat," Agent Steele said pointing to the nice leather chair in front of his desk.

"Are you an MLE?" he asked as he steepled his fingers in front of him.

"No," Harry replied shortly.

The agent gave him a curious look.

"Spell Reversal?" he inquired further

"No," Harry said tonelessly.

"Misuse of Muggle Artefacts?" the agent continued.

Harry realised Agent Steele sure knew a lot about the different departments in the Ministry of Magic.

"No," Harry again responded.

"What the hell do you do?" The agent asked slightly frustrated that Hermione would dare send him someone so inexperienced.

"You know quite a bit about the magical world?" Harry asked evading the question.

"You don't trust me?" the agent responded realising that Harry was avoiding answering the question.

"I don't know you," Harry replied seriously.

"True," Steele said reasonably.

"Why am I here?" Harry asked he was ready to get to the point.

"There is a warehouse in Liverpool that we suspect is developing a dangerous new drug and we would like you to take a look around the warehouse and determine if you see anything out of the ordinary," the agent explained.

"What does this warehouse have to do with the magical world?" Harry asked like a true Auror.

"Previous agents that were assigned to penetrate the warehouse returned either dead or not remembering why they were sent there in the first place," the agent explained seriously as he handed Harry a thick file folder that he pulled out of his top drawer.

"I understand," Harry said as he took the file folder from the agent. He started to flip through it quickly. During his tenure as a DEA agent he had become quite adept with reading files and internalising the important data.

"As you are aware, Aurors were asked to investigate these cases since the disaster in Notting Hill."

Harry pretended to know and made a mental note to ask Hermione about the Notting Hill incident.

"Do you know how to use one of these?" Agent Steele said placing a gun on the table in front of Harry.

"Yes," he replied without batting an eyelash. He had become quite familiar with muggle weapons during his travels.

"Prove it," the agent challenged, indicating to the gun in front of them.

Harry took the gun and easily checked to see if it is was loaded. It was and he asked where he should aim while taking the safety off. The agent seemed to be satisfied with the knowledge of the weapon that Harry had displayed.

"I have to check. The last four Aurors shot themselves accidentally," Agent Steele said with a chuckle.

"Why do I need a gun? I'm perfectly capable of using my wand," Harry asked as he placed the gun carefully back on the table.

"All agents going into the field are required to carry one," Agent Steele explained.

"But I'm not an agent, am I?" Harry pointed out.

"For this mission you are. Same as if I were to work with the Aurors on a case I'm afforded all the privileges of Aurors,"Agent Steele explained.

"Any guards," Harry inquired as he tried to determine how dangerous this assignment would be and why Hermione felt he should do this.

"We don't know," Agent Steele said honestly.

A sudden thought occurred to Harry, "How are we getting to Liverpool?"

"We are in Liverpool," Agent Steele said sardonically as fought the urge to curse the newbie Hermione sent him. "Your portkey took you to our field office here. The warehouse is two blocks down," Steele further explained

Harry listened intently as agent Steele gave a detailed description of how to find the warehouse. He also detailed the positions of agents on standby, should he need any assistance.

Ten minutes later, after reading the mission brief, Harry was casually walking down the street. He felt himself pass through a few security wards and knew that whoever was in charge of that warehouse now knew he was coming. He glanced at the windows to the building to see if anyone was looking at him but the glass was pitch black. He tried to look casual and stopped in front of a bakery opposite the warehouse. He went in and purchased a croissant. The girl at the cashier smiled at him as she gave him his purchase and he choose to sit at the window and look out at the warehouse.

It was an odd place to have a warehouse. The whole street was filled with small stores except for the massive warehouse. On either side of the warehouse were clothing and shoe stores, no electronic stores. The bakery advertised as having a traditional brick oven to bake bread in. The cash register was an old manual one and the bakery was lit with old oil lanterns. If the wards extended this far out, it was a fair assumption to think that it messed with electronics. He pulled out his phone to check to see if it was working.

"Don't even bother with your phone," the girl said. "This area is like a dead zone or something. Cell phones don't work and the electricity is skitzo. We've been complaining for months but the electric company has done nothing about it.

Harry smiled but he noted that his phone was in fact working. Hermione truly was a genius to figure out how to get it to work with magical wards around.

"Thanks for the advice," he said. "I'm visiting for the day, is there anything I should see?"

"No, nothing interesting in this side of town," she responded.

"I saw lots of nice shops. I was thinking of picking up something for my girlfriend, is there any particular one I should visit?" Harry asked trying to keep the small talk going.

The girls face dropped at the mention of a girlfriend, "All the stores are the same as in London."

"Oh. How come there's a warehouse in the middle of the street?" Harry asked.

The girl shrugged and a new customer entered the bakery. The man glanced at Harry before purchasing a few scones from the girl. He appeared to be a regular. The man sat down at the back of the bakery. Harry decided to focus back on the warehouse. He couldn't determine if there were any guards around and he realised trying to get into the building would not be a good idea as yet. He wondered if he could get behind the building. He should be able to do that if he came down the parallel street in the back.

He finished up the last of his croissant and thanked the girl for her assistance on the way out. He strolled up to the intersecting street and then came down the parallel street. When he felt the wards again he knew he was getting close. In between two clothing shops, there was a chain link fence that closed off the back of the building. There was a large ditch running the width of the back that was filled with white foam. He had never seen anything quite like it before but it felt familiar for some reason. Suddenly, he felt a pin prick on his neck and he turned to see the man from the bakery holding an empty syringe in his hand.

"Haven't you heard that curiosity killed the cat," the man said.

Harry's whole world spun and the last thing he saw before he blacked out on the pavement was a pair of snakeskin boots.

* * *

Draco was impressed as Ginny forced Luna into a corner on their training floor. She had improved considerably in the last hour and Draco strongly felt with a few more practices she would be as good as Luna. Ron, as usual, was proving to be quite difficult.

Draco's ego was still wounded after suffering his embarrassing defeat to Victoria earlier in the day. He had learned never to challenge an experienced witch to a duel while still recovering from the flu. Madame Bones had scolded him properly for that and she added some extra potions for him to take. He didn't know what was in the new ones but it tasted worse than the ones before. As a result of his current medical condition, Luna asked him to go through the new spells with Ron. Draco was so frustrated with Ron and his lack of attention that he felt like getting a hammer and hammering the information into his head.

"For the last time Weasley, its flick, flick, flick, swish, not swish, swish, swish, flick," Draco said exasperatedly as he tried to explain the last four movements of the spell that Luna had used on Harry.

"Whatever Malfoy, when's Harry going to get back?" Ron asked frustrated. He refused to learn anything from a Malfoy.

Draco was about to retort in his usual Malfoy manor when his house elf, Mindy, appeared between Ron and Draco and handed Draco a letter. The scrawl was unfamiliar to him and he questioned the elf about the letter. She explained that it was delivered a few minutes earlier by a large black owl with an usual mark on its feathers.

"Primus," Draco muttered.

He quickly scanned the letter for harmful magic and then tore it open. Ron watched as the slight colour that currently shaded Malfoy's face from the physical activity drained away leaving him with his usually pale face. He pulled out his cell phone and pressed the number 3. The speed dial immediately activated and he anxiously hoped the person on the other end would answer. After six rings the voice mail picked up. Draco angrily shut his cell phone and shoved it in his robes.

"Luna, wake Hermione up we have a problem," Draco said gravely as he handed her the note.

Luna glanced at it and couldn't help but gasp.

_Mr. Malfoy,_

_There will be an auction tonight at midnight for the head of one Mr. Harry Potter. If you're interested, go to Daigon Alley and you'll be given further details._

_Primus_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	11. The Head of Harry Potter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Arrow.

The air felt very cold around Hermione as she walked briskly down a corridor in Hogwarts. Harry and Ron were both with her and it was very tempting to believe it was just like the old times at school but every time she caught sight of her reflection in a suit of armour, the bright red of her's and Harry's robes reminded her that it wasn't a jaunt down memory lane. Primus had called them there and the lives of Ginny and Luna were at stake if they didn't show up. She didn't want them with her but she had never been able to stop them from doing something they were determined to do.

They made their way towards the room of requirement where the door in the wall was clearly visible. Hermione reached forward and slowly opened the door while the other two followed behind her. The room was exactly the way it was when Dumbledore's Army used it for practices. A figure cloaked in a royal purple robe with a hood that covered their face stood to the front where Harry used to stand when he taught them.

"It's about time," the figure sneered.

"What do you want?" Harry demanded.

Hermione knew she knew that voice but she couldn't place where she had heard it before.

Other cloaked figures entered the room and surrounded them. The three of them huddled together in the centre of large circle with their wands drawn.

Primus broke into the circle and laughed. "This is the end Granger, Avada Kadavra!"

The green jet of light shot out of the wand and headed straight at her but before it could impact, Harry pushed her out of the way at the last second. She watched in horror as the light penetrated his chest. Harry's eyes widened but he dropped to the ground. His beautiful green eyes staring up blankly at the ceiling. She rushed to his side.

The figure laughed and other Aurors came rushing into the room but Hermione ignored the commotion going on around her as she cradled Harry's head in her lap.

"Harry no," she said with tears leaking through her eyes. "Don't leave me. You just came back. You can't leave again."

Hermione woke up pouring with sweat and immediately looked around the room. She was in the Manor. She'd been having that nightmare for weeks and she could never remember any other details of the dream other than Harry's death. She breathed a sigh of relief that he was probably eating dinner downstairs but the memories of her sending him to run an errand for Cole popped back into her head. There was a knock at her door before it opened to reveal Luna. From the look on her friend's face she knew something was wrong.

* * *

Draco walked around a deserted Daigon alley and cursed his luck. He was having a very bad day, first the bloodhound, then the duel with Victoria and now being given the responsibility of saving Potter's head. He was still recovering from the flu as well and he had no clue what he was supposed to be looking for. Primus could have been a bit more specific in that note.

He passed by Barteby's Bagels and glanced at the menu board and immediately realised that this was where he was supposed to be. He wasn't surprised to find that Barteby was involved with Primus. Didn't all low life know each other these days? He walked inside and headed to the counter.

"One Potter special," Draco sneered at the poor witch behind the counter.

"Yyyyesss ssssiirrr," she stammered as she handed him an envelope from under the counter.

Draco grabbed the envelope from her and ripped it open.

"Midnight," Draco said as he looked at the only word that was written on the parchment.

He flipped it over but found nothing else. A voice that sounded eerily like Hermione's echoed in his head telling him to use a revealing spell. He whipped out his wand and tried everything he could think of but nothing happened. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a tall witch with strawberry blonde hair enter the restaurant. Draco knew for sure that today was his day of penance. Priscilla Parkinson, Pansy's younger sister who Draco had had a tryst with a few years ago, had just walked in. This was no coincidence.

"Hello Draco," she cooed, a seductive smile on her face. Her robes were fashioned to emphasise all of her curves.

"Priscilla," Draco said courteously.

"I've been wondering, that new girl of yours doesn't look like she could do much in the bedroom. If you're ever interested in rekindling what we had," she said handing him her business card for Parkinson's Imports and Exports, "I'm always available."

"I'll keep that in mind," Draco replied back with a sexy smirk. Flirting with other witches was part of his image and was expected of him.

He felt a sharp pain on his foot and politely excused himself to sit down at a table that had a very good view of the rest of the shop as well as the alley outside.

"What does it say?" a voice said to him.

"I thought you were to keep out of my way," Draco hissed softly to the air.

"You were flirting with her while the life of my best mate hangs in the balance," Ron argued while under the invisible cloak.

"You better move, here she comes again," Draco said with his head turned away so Priscilla would not see his lips moving. He had been watching her at the counter and noticed that the young witch gave her a similar envelope from under the counter as she had done with him. He would be competing against her in the auction.

"Draco, it seems we're both here for the same business," Priscilla said displaying her note with the same word as she sat down opposite him.

"I don't think that is very surprising. After all, Potter disgraced both of our families," Draco sneered.

"He did. I have quite a few ways I plan to exact my revenge from him," she said. A coy smile planted itself on her face as she added, "If you're a good boy I just might include you in my fun."

Draco smiled at her, "I wouldn't be so confident that you can outbid me."

She laughed, "Draco we both know that after the war, the Ministry confiscated almost every valuable thing your family owned as a punishment for your father being the most trusted of the death eaters. You were lucky you were left with the Manor. You don't have the funds to outbid us."

"I think you might be surprised at just how well the Malfoy businesses are doing. My father made sure that in his absence I would be able to continue his work. I have recovered all of my father's previous assets," Draco boasted. Of course a lot of that had to do with the Order helping him.

She smiled cockily at him, "Surprise me then."

"I would be my pleasure. We just have to wait here until midnight then I can get my satisfaction when you watch me claim the prize," Draco said.

Priscila wrinkled her nose in disgust as she looked at the restaurant around her. "We could find somewhere else to wait that's more suitable to our tastes."

"I heard your sister is in town," Draco said trying to change the topic as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat as Priscilla's leg had somehow found its way under his robe.

"She was quite excited to come as well but Primus's note was addressed to me so I left her home," she said as she moved her foot higher up his leg. "The note could be a portkey that activates at midnight," Priscilla said as she fiddled with the note in her hand. "Primus did that once before on a business deal we had a while back. We don't have to return here. It'll give us a lot more time to enjoy ourselves," the witch suggested.

Draco ignored her flirtatious advances and latched on to the one piece of information that mattered to him, her business dealing with Primus. "Did you meet him?"

She scoffed at him. "Nobody meets Primus. We both know that."

"I would like to find out his identity. I like to know who I'm doing business with," Draco replied. "I would hate to think that it's some wizard from the Ministry setting us all up."

"He or **she** ," she said emphasising the fact that Primus could be a woman, is someone from Hogwarts," she said.

"I would think that was obvious," Draco replied in a bored tone.

"Primus could been a foreigner," she pointed out.

"It's highly unlikely," Draco said. "After Grindelwald everyone is still hesitant to trust a foreigner."

"I agree. Primus is an English wizard/witch. Pansy and I think Primus is someone from either the year above ours, our year or the year below us," she said sharing her suspicions with him. "We know the Aurors in those year groups and none of them are Primus. We did our homework well before we pursued any business ventures with Primus," she said.

The Order had been after Primus for the last year and a half. Primus had been responsible for some of the most daring criminal enterprises that had happened over the last 2 years. His organization was like a phantom and nobody apprehended, had any clue about other parts of the organization. Draco filed away Priscilla's suspicions about Primus to discuss with Hermione at a later date.

"Looks like Flint is interested in this as well," Draco said as he watched Marcus Flint receive the same envelope from the young witch. Priscilla's leg was now getting dangerously close to his private parts and he reached his hand down to stop her progression.

"It appears that this might be attracting quite a crowd," she commented as she deftly moved her foot around Draco's hand and continued her journey up his leg in search of her goal.

"Priscilla!" Flint said as he came over to greet her. "I've been wondering if there were any pureblood witches left around here?"

"There're quite a few of us, you're just not moving in the right circles," she told him as Draco stopped her foot again.

"And what circle might that be?" Marcus asked.

Priscilla didn't answer as her gaze drifted passed Marcus to Terrence Higgs. Even though Higgs was in Slytherin, his family hadn't been openly associated with Lord Voldemort and as a result when most of the Slytherins had been punished during the war, they were not. In the absence of the business competition their family thrived. He would definitely be the wizard to outbid.

"I believe I have another urgent appointment now. I'll see you at midnight," she blew a kiss at Draco and left. Flint wasted no time following behind her.

"Why the sudden departure?" Ron whispered to Draco.

"She's probably going to make sure she has enough galleons available to outbid Higgs. His pockets are the deepest in England."

"Someone has more money than a Malfoy!" Ron teased.

Draco glared at the space he guessed Ron occupied. "You better hope for Potter's sake we don't have to rely on my ability to outbid Higgs."

"You think she's right?" Ron asked in a soft voice.

"Right about what?" Draco asked confused.

"The note being a portkey," Ron explained.

"Could be," Draco replied thinking about the implications of the note being a portkey. It would be difficult for Ron to hold the portkey and keep the invisibility cloak covering all of him. There would be a huge risk that Ron would be exposed endangering both of them.

"Head back to the Manor. I'll meet you there," Draco said as he stood abruptly and walked out of the shop.

Draco got about thirty feet away from the shop before he was forcibly pulled into a deserted side alley.

"You don't order me around!" Ron said lifting the invisibility cloak so that only Draco could see him.

"Then do what you want," Draco said pushing Ron aside and exiting the alley. He looked around to see if anyone was watching him but everyone appeared to be going about their own business. He did not look back into the alley, instead choosing to continue in the direction he was previously heading before stopping to look around again. When he felt satisfied that no one was watching him he continued on to Gringotts.

As expected, he saw Priscilla Parkinson exiting the bank.

"The things I have to do for Potter," Draco muttered softly to himself before heading towards her.

* * *

While Draco and Ron were in Daigon Alley, Hermione was in her office in the Manor. Draco had given her this room so that she could work from the Manor on days that she was too tired to go into the Ministry. Aurors had a ton of paperwork to complete every time they had a raid and somehow even Hermione was always behind on her paperwork. She had the latest computers set up in the Manor and pulled up the tracker programme she had written to keep track of Harry in the muggle world.

Since the group was staying away from magical communities it was difficult to track them with magic. They would disappear from one place and only months later they might turn up half way across the globe. Hermione had decided that if magic wasn't working well they should try muggle technology.

She remembers the day she placed the GPS tracker on Harry well. She wasn't sure what she was going to place it in. She knew it had to be something that Harry took with him wherever he went. A close inspection of pictures that had been sent to her, revealed that Harry always had a necklace with a small pendant on it but she had no idea what the pendant was. She really wished you could zoom in on magical pictures the way you could with muggle ones. She hoped it was big enough that she could embed the tracker in it.

Her other problem was how was she going to get to the pendant if Harry never took it off. She decided that she would follow them to a club and add some sleeping draught to Harry's last beer. Harry wasn't a heavy drinker and usually only had two. By the time he reached back to his apartment, he collapsed face down on the bed sound asleep. Hermione had to roll him over to get to the pendant. She was floored when she discovered that the pendant was a miniature otter carved from wood. Her patronus was an otter and it was no coincidence that Harry had chosen this as his pendant. She must have stared at the little otter for twenty minutes. It was proof that Harry had not forgotten her. She was still sort of with him even though she was thousands of miles away in England. She pulled herself together and used magic to embed the tracker into the heart of the otter. She made sure the transmitter was in the mouth so that it could transmit its location so that there would be no hindrance to the signal.

"Did you find him?" Luna asked when she heard that familiar ping that sounded when Hermione's search results came back.

"The trackers last known location was at King's Cross. It's not online now so he's probably in a place with heavy magic that's affecting the tracker but I think he's there," Hermione said.

"King's Cross?" Luna said with a crinkle in her brow. "Why would they take him to King's Cross? It's crowded with muggles. There's even a group of wizards petitioning for platform nine and three quarters to be moved because of the increased muggle activity at King's Cross."

"Maybe that is exactly why they are there. The Ministry does not monitor areas with heavy muggle traffic. We leave it up to muggle authorities to notify us of any strange occurrences. If this is one of the groups that hid in the muggle world during the war, they would know how to keep their magical activities from attracting the attention of the muggle authorities. We need to check it out," Hermione said.

"What if they've moved him elsewhere?" Luna asked fearfully.

"I have the computer scanning England and the rest of the world. King's Cross is still a good starting point. Why take him there only to apparate away? They would have done that before. If he isn't there, then there will be clues to lead us to his location."

The door to the office opened revealing an angry Victoria Snape followed by Severus Snape with his usual scowl. Luna had sent for them. They were also expecting Tonks to make an appearance as well.

"Ms. Granger this was very irresponsible of you!" Severus Snape stated.

"Professor, I don't need the lecture right now. We have a plan in motion to retrieve Harry," she told him.

Victoria scoffed, "I would hardly call that a plan. You've placed the heir to the Malfoy Estate in very grave danger."

"Draco isn't the heir anymore. He is the owner. His children, whenever he chooses to have any, will be the heirs. Stop treating him like he is still under his father. And I didn't place him in any danger. It was his last name that did that. Primus sent a note addressed to him and it would be more dangerous for Draco to blow off Primus than for him to show interest in the head of Harry Potter. After all, Draco lost a lot because of Harry. If Voldemort had lived and the death eaters won, the Malfoys would be like royalty now. It is only logical from Primus's point of view that Draco would be interested in this."

"If you hadn't sent Harry to do the work of an Auror then Draco wouldn't be in this position now," Victoria countered.

Hermione had no response. It was true. If she had gone instead of Harry then maybe they wouldn't be in this position now. She was so sure of her dream of Harry dying at Hogwarts she didn't think going to the warehouse could be really dangerous to him.

"We need to focus on refining this plan of yours to retrieve Potter. What information have you discovered so far," Severus said.

Hermione chose to focus on the information and relayed everything she knew to her old potions Professor.

* * *

Ron returned without Draco which upset Victoria. The Order had established that if you left with a partner, you came back with your partner. Victoria went on to give a detailed lecture to Ron about how Order missions were to be carried out. Hermione and Luna would have interceded on Ron's behalf because he genuinely would not have known the rules but it was probably best that someone was telling him now. Victoria was very thorough and she wouldn't miss a single detail.

An hour later, Draco returned to the Manor. Ron thought the lecture would be over but he was most surprised when Victoria started lecturing Draco about the same rules that she was informing Ron about. She was even harsher with Draco because he knew the rules. Ron had never thought that a Slytherin was capable of fairness but Victoria Snape surprised him.

Draco seemed to be immune to her rants and threw an envelope at her, "I was busy sourcing a second invitation so that the Weasel here could portkey in by himself."

"How did you get that?" Ron asked amazed.

Draco made a face as if he was disgusted with himself, "Don't ask. I need a bathe."

Kingsley arrived shortly afterward informing Hermione that she was needed for an official Auror/Mi5 raid on the warehouse at midnight. The only Auror he could spare to help with retrieving Harry was Tonks since she was banned from any muggle missions. Severus decided that he would go with Ron and Draco to retrieve Harry. Victoria, Ginny and Tonks would investigate King's Cross.

* * *

Before Ginny could leave with Victoria, Hermione pulled her aside for a moment. There was a something that had been bugging her for seven years.

"How did you get Harry to let you go with him?" Hermione bluntly asked.

Ginny smiled proud of her achievement, "I borrowed one of your ideas."

"My ideas?" Hermione repeated ignoring the urge to wipe the smile off of Ginny's face.

"With the DA, the jinx on the list," the red head witch elaborated. "I made Harry use a piece of parchment to write a farewell note to my mother. I had jinxed it so that he had to take me with him. Once he signed it, it sealed the jinx. He took me along because he didn't want to walk around looking like a toad," she finished proudly.

"I always wondered, I mean I understood that you two were close but I didn't think he would willingly take you away from your family," Hermione responded.

"I had let him hunt the horcruxes by himself, I wasn't going to sit back again and wait," she told her.

"I don't really think you 'let' him, Ginny. There was no stopping him," Hermione responded trying to erase the delusion Ginny seemed to be under.

Ginny scowled at her, "I could have asked him to stay."

"But he wouldn't have. Both you and I know that. If you were really concerned you would have come with us," the brunette responded hotly.

"I couldn't, my parents wouldn't let me," Ginny responded fiercely.

"That never stopped me!" an irate Hermione pointed out.

"You were of age!" Ginny countered.

"Not in the muggle world!" Hermione said.

"Ladies, while I would be most happy to watch you duel this out. We do not have any time. King's Cross is a large building and scanning for magical signatures without alerting muggles and wizards we are there is going to be very difficult," Victoria said to both of them before turning to Ginny, "I hope your spell detection skills are up to par. You're going to need them."

Hermione looked at Ginny, "Just find Harry and bring him home safe ok."

"Yeah, we will," Ginny said following after Victoria to the floo chamber.

* * *

Victoria Snape strolled through King's Cross going out of her way to avoid the muggles. They were quite annoying with their high scented perfumes and loud music. School had already started and platform nine and three quarters was closed off. To verify that, Victoria strolled close to the entrance and used her wand, hidden in her long trench coat, to verify that the barrier was up to prevent both muggles and wizards from entering the platform.

So far she hadn't found anything out of place, well anything magically out of place. She noted some empty water bottles on the ground and pieces of paper flying around. Muggles could be so filthy sometimes. She looked around the mass of people for Ginny and Tonks to see if they were having any luck. She saw a muggle trip over a newspaper and knew right away that was Tonks in disguise. She was so clumsy. She couldn't understand how Tonks became an Auror. They must have severely lowered the standards the year that Tonks passed the exams to become an Auror.

She wished Severus was with her but he was a very recognizable figure in Wizarding England. Only her students would know her and she doubted that anyone she went to school with would recognize her. Severus certainly hadn't when she returned three years ago. His surprise when he finally figured out who she was had made her laugh. Severus was a good wizard, mostly misunderstand but his heart was in the right place. They both had a person that they had been in love with when they were younger, that one person that they thought their world revolved around. For him it was Lilly Evans, for her it was Lucious Malfoy. Because of this, she understood his complicated relationship to Harry. She had the same to Draco. She knew she understood him better than anyone else.

She was roused from her thoughts when a woman ran one of those bags on wheels over her foot.

"Ow," Victoria cried cradling her foot. Muggles packed those bags full and unlike magical crates, those bags carry the full weight of the items in it. The muggle woman didn't even stop to apologise. Victoria grew angry and pointed her wand in the direction of the woman. She knew how to cast spells that the Ministry would never know of. She timed it carefully so that the spell would only impact that woman's bag. She was going to send it flying from her.

She was most pleased with herself when the spell impacted directly on the woman's bag and it flew out of her hand with a force that spun the woman around in confusion. Victoria would have focused on the woman more but the bag had disappeared through what appeared to be a solid wall. Victoria marched towards the wall passing the woman who was shouting "Thief, thief," as she thought someone had stolen her bag from her.

"Stupid rude muggle," Victoria muttered as she walked past the distraught woman.

Victoria walked the length of the wall and confirmed that there was a magical spell at the entrance.

"That was cruel," Ginny said as she appeared next to her.

"Oh you saw that, maybe there is hope for you," Victoria commented dryly.

"What do we do now?" Ginny asked.

"I suppose we could get Tonks to accidentally trip over her feet and fall through that wall," Victoria said sarcastically.

"There is no need to be so mean to her. What if we sent her in there after the suitcase?" Ginny suggested instead.

"The soot what?" Victoria queried.

"The thing you sent through the barrier. She could go in looking for it and let us know if we can enter as well," Ginny said.

"Definitely hope for you," Victoria said with a wicked smile.

* * *

Two guards sat crouched on two stools that were too small for their massive frames. In between them was a small table on which they were playing exploding snap.

"If we get caught the boss won't be happy," one thug said to the other.

"Would you rather sit and stare at that blank wall," the other asked.

"No, but…"

THUNK

Both guards jumped up with their wands drawn in the direction of the sound.

"It's just one of those stupid cases muggles seem to lose," one guard said as he put his wand away. "Just throw it on the stack with the others."

The other guard levitated the suitcase into a corner piled with suitcases and they both returned to their game of exploding snap. A few minutes later they were interrupted by the sound of three muggle females.

"You see, I told you I saw the sootcake disappear through the wall!" a tall blonde woman said.

"I can't believe it," a redhead said with an accent as she looked around. "This is like magic."

Both guards looked at each other. This was the third time this month that muggles had accidentally fallen through the barrier. They had once asked their boss about putting up muggle repelling wards but their boss grew angry and the vein in the side of his head started to throb and they never asked again. It was the boss's lady friend that explained to them that they couldn't put up the ward because it would repel all the muggles from the entire station and that would draw Ministry attention and you couldn't attract the Ministry to your secret hide out. They liked her after that. They did jobs here and there for her for free though the last one was kind of dangerous.

"Where is the sookchase?" the brunette asked as she carefully looked around the room.

"I don't know. How about we ask these nice gentlemen here?" The redhead said with a sweet smile.

She bravely walked over to them and pushed her chest out just a bit to emphasize her visible cleavage. "Have you seen our suitcase?" She asked sweetly sticking out her bottom lip just a bit even though their eyes won't looking at her lips.

"Ah," both wizards stammered as they looked at her cleavage. It was the last thing they saw before the world went blank.

"Stupid wizards!" Victoria commented. "Thank Merlyn my Sevy is different."

"Sevy?" Ginny mouthed at Tonks horrified.

"Why are you two standing there staring at each other? We have a wizard to save!" Victoria said as she strode confidently into the open passageway behind the guards.

"Sevy?" Ginny said softly to Tonks.

"Don't ask and don't ever tell Snape you know his pet name," Tonks advised.

Ginny nodded and then had to hold back a laugh as Tonks tripped over her foot.

"Sorry," Tonks said to her.

"What are you two doing back there?" Victoria hissed from further up the corridor.

"Nothing," Ginny called out softly as she quickly helped Tonks up and followed Victoria swiftly down the passageway.

* * *

Harry was seated; at least he knew that much because there was a mask over his face and ear muffs on his ears so other than his body position that was all he knew. His hands were bound behind the chair and his legs were tied to it. He had no idea how long it had been since he had been knocked out. He was quite disappointed that he got himself into this position. He could only imagine what Hermione was thinking and how he had successfully proven her right. He was supposed to be better than this. He had let his guard down. He could just picture his DEA trainer yelling at him for his stupidity.

He reflected on everything he did wrong. There was just something familiar about the way the foam looked. The image of Hermione dead on the snow flashed in his mind and he realised that it wasn't snow that Hermione was lying on. It was the foam!

He was not sure how long he sat there working himself into a panic about Hermione before he felt a hand on his head and suddenly he could see and hear again. Ginny was looking down at him.

"Where's Hermione?" he asked immediately.

"Nice to see you too Harry," Ginny said dryly as she used her wand to untie the ropes that bound his hands while Tonks worked on his feet and Victoria stood guard.

"I need to see Hermione. Where is she?" Harry asked desperately.

"She's at the warehouse. They should be raiding it any minute now," Tonks replied.

Harry's face drained of colour, "I have to get there."

"Harry, we have to get you back to the manor," Ginny told him firmly.

"You don't understand," he said standing once they had finished untying him.

"Then explain it to me," she told him.

"Let's go. They might be coming soon to collect him," Victoria commanded.

Harry followed them down a corridor that was littered with unconscious wizards. All the doors in the corridors were opened and Harry saw various crates in each room, one room had a fire place with floo powder but they didn't seem to be exiting that way. Eventually he came to a room piled high with suitcases and two unconscious men. Ginny stepped through the wall first followed by Tonks. Victoria pushed him through. He was surprised when he emerged in King's Cross.

"I need to get out of here," Harry said breaking free from them and heading to the men's room. He could apparate from within a bathroom stall. "I'll meet you back at the Manor."

He pushed the door open and ignored the usual stench of a public restroom. He went to a stall and closed the door behind him. He concentrated on the street with the warehouse. When he next opened his eyes he was standing in front of the coffee shop watching Kingsley and others enter the warehouse.

* * *

Hermione, Cole and two other agents were at the back of the warehouse waiting for the signal to begin the raid. The signal soon came and they cut through the chain link fence to enter the property. The foam was piled all around the back and Hermione really didn't want to step in it. No tests had been conducted on it yet to determine if it was poisonous. She was grateful she had chosen to wear her muggle knee high boots.

Hermione sensed the change before the others. The air became chilly and the light slowly disappeared from around them, Dementors. Hermione tried to recall her happiest memories. She waved her wand and said the words Expecto Patronum but nothing happened. This was her worst spell. Harry had always teased her about it. Otters were fun playful creatures but now was not the time for her otter to be playing with her. The Dementors were getting closer and all she could hear in her head was the voice of Arthur Weasley begging her to kill him.

A silvery lynx and two other patronuses were chasing the Dementors from behind. The silvery lynx broke off and circled them to keep the Dementors away from them. They were soon chased away. She sighed in relief, thankful that Kingsley was her back up tonight.

"Still having trouble with that spell?" Cole asked casually.

"You felt them this time?" Hermione asked curiously. Non magical persons don't usually notice Dementors.

"Not really, I recognized your wand movements," he replied. He had seen her attempt that spell quite a few times, always failing.

"Let's just get this over with," Hermione said.

They were nearly to the door, when it flung open and a group of men came out armed with machine guns. Cole and the other agents started firing and Hermione looked for cover. She started transfiguring pieces of metal on the ground into large objects that they could hide behind. She was alone behind her barrier but she could see that Cole and one agent were pinned down behind another barrier. She wasn't sure where the other agent was.

"Drop the wand!" a man who moved around her barrier said to her.

"It's just a stick," Hermione said trying to play dumb.

"I ain't stupid lady, I know what you are," he said to her. "Now drop it."

Hermione dropped it hoping she would be able to use wandless magic to disable him. Even though she had been issued with her own gun, she never used it.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm an environmental inspector; I was just using the stick to sample the white stuff on the ground," she said to him calmly.

"If you were an inspector, why do you have armed agents with you?" The guard sneered at her as he cocked his gun.

Hermione tried to concentrate on the expelliarmus spell to remove the gun from the man's hand. She could still hear shooting behind her and knew that Cole was still pinned down. She had no clue what was going on inside the warehouse but she knew she had seconds to get the spell right. Hermione tried to focus her magic on the gun but the man soon slumped to ground in front of her. She glanced around looking for Cole thinking he had shot the man but said agent was still pinned down. Instead Harry was running in a crouch towards her.

"Are you crazy Harry!" Hermione shouted as he came to stop next to her.

"That guy was about to kill you," Harry said pointing at the unconscious man on the floor. "This is the place Hermione. This is the place I saw you die. Whatever you were going to try, it wasn't going to work. That bullet was going to go through your heart."

"That wouldn't have happened!" Hermione replied turning her back to Harry to focus on trying to take out the other men that were shooting at Cole.

"Why are you being so stubborn!" he asked taking up a position next to her and hitting his targets with more accuracy than her.

"Thanks Hermione. Looks like your friend there is actually useful. I thought he was a bit of a flake after he ran off earlier," Cole said as he emerged from behind his barrier with the other agent.

Harry glared at him. He really didn't like that man at all. When they started to approach the door, they discovered the other agent dead, the foam around him bright red. Harry saw the sadness in Hermione's eyes. She was never supposed to see scenes like that after the war again.

"We'll head inside, you two keep out here secure," Cole suggested.

Hermione nodded. When Cole disappeared inside she turned to Harry, "You shouldn't be here. It was wrong of me to send you here in the first place."

Harry disagreed, "No, I'm right where I am supposed to be. I've made up my mind Hermione. I'm going to become an Auror. There is nothing you can say to stop me."

Both of them heard the gun cock. A man had appeared from the side of the building closest to Hermione and was aiming straight at her back. It seemed to move in slow motion for Harry. Hermione spun around to use her wand but the man started firing as she turned. She made a wand movement but two bullets buried itself in her chest, the impact pushing her backwards on to the ground. One other bullet was stationary in mid-air. Harry disarmed the man, quickly checking both sides of the building to make sure they were clear before rushing back to Hermione. She was in the foam exactly how he saw her in his dream.

Harry fell to his knees besides her, "No, no, no. This was not supposed to happen," he said.

Suddenly her eyes opened and she looked directly at him with a brilliant smile.

"Your life really does pass before your eyes," she said lightly.

"Hermione!" Harry said in a panic. He wanted to pull her close to him but he didn't know if it would hurt her.

"Relax Harry, to be forewarned is to be forearmed," she said pulling up her shirt to reveal a bullet proof vest. The bullets were embedded right above her heart.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

"You should probably pluck that bullet from the air before someone walks into it," Hermione suggested looking up at the bullet.

"What was that spell?" Harry asked standing to retrieve the offensive object.

"It's a spell designed for wizards to defend against guns but you have to cast it before they fire the gun. It's very difficult to get the timing perfect. Most of the time it's better to duck and cover," she admitted.

Harry's hand slipped into hers and he pulled her up off the ground. Having been shot with a bullet proof vest on, he knew the impact was still quite bruising.

"They really need to come up with a much better way to stop bullets. This hurts but I suppose it is a lot better than dead," Hermione quipped.

Harry agreed, "It is much better than dead."

Kingsley soon appeared in the back, "Everything clear Granger?" he asked.

"All good," she said.

Kingsley turned to Harry, "I see you've been rescued and before midnight too."

"What's at midnight?" Harry asked.

"The auction for your head," Hermione told him. "We sent Draco to bid on it."

"Someone's going to be sorely disappointed. My head is right where it is supposed to be," Harry replied.

Hermione smiled softly at him, "Your head is just perfect where it is." Her eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed pink when she realised what she said.

"I expect your report on my desk in two days Granger," Kingsley said before walking away.

Hermione groaned, "More paperwork."

* * *

It was five minutes to midnight and Ron was twiddling the invitation in his hands as Draco paced non-stop in front of the large fireplace. Ginny and Victoria had returned with news that they had rescued Harry only for him to go running off to rescue Hermione. They would have followed him to the warehouse but they had no idea where it was. Victoria didn't want Draco to go to the meet since Harry was already rescued but Severus had disagreed with her pointing out that Draco would have no way of knowing that unless he arranged for the rescue. It was important that he appeared at the auction ready to bid for Harry. Ron and Severus would still accompany him.

"Would you stop pacing?" Ron asked irritably as he eyed Draco in front of the fireplace. He had just finished taking a nasty tasting potion that would counter the effects of the portkey and Draco's pacing was not helping him feel any better.

"No," Draco replied shortly as he continued to pace

"Do you want to go over the plan again?" Ron asked hoping that giving Draco something to focus on would stop the pacing.

"What's there to go over? We have no idea of what we are walking into," Draco replied as he glanced at the clock on the wall. "We better get ready."

"I can't believe I have to get under the cloak with Snape," Ron groaned to himself.

With a minute left, Snape appeared and pulled the cloak over the both of them while he held on to the other end of the invitation. Soon they felt the familiar tug of the portkey behind their naval. Ron concentrated on lading on his feet and not flat on his back which would draw attention to them. When they landed Ron wobbled but Snape held on to him firmly keeping him under the cloak. Ron nodded his thanks.

They were in a large room which was lavishly decorated room. There were large French doors to the left which lead out to a large balcony. Ron could hear the sounds of waves crashing against the shore line. They were on the coast somewhere. The moon was new so he could not recognise any distinguishing details outside. The right side of the room had to large wooden doors, one near the front of the room and one near the back.

Snape pulled him to a corner in the back of the room. There were many wizards in concealed black robes guarding the entrances and exits to the room. Nine wizards that arrived via portkey. Ron noticed that Priscilla was not among them. Some of the wizards he recognised, other he didn't. He was surprised to find a Gryffindor, Cormac McClaggen, associated with the criminal underworld. Though maybe he shouldn't have been too surprised. Cormac had always had a nasty tempter and he held a grudge against Harry when Ron was chosen to be keeper over him. He's not sure what happened to the wizard after the war but it didn't appear as if he had done anything good if he was here to bid for Harry's head.

The bidders broke into little groups while they awaited Primus. Draco was busy chatting with Higgs and another wizard while another group was demanding to know why they had to wait. Ron knew it was because they didn't have Harry Potter and they were probably scrambling trying to figure out what to do. Ten minutes later, the door on the right near the front of the room swung open and a figure in a royal purple robe walked confidently into the room.

"Welcome everyone. I see most persons accepted my invitation," the person said with a distorted voice.

"Why have you kept us waiting?" a tall wizard with short sandy brown hair demanded.

"We had an unfortunate delay. Mr. Potter was able to escape but I managed to source a wizard that would be of particular interest to the group gathered here."

The door at the back of the room swung open and two guards dragged a person with a hood over his head in. A trail of blood was left behind on the white marble floor. The wizard was tossed on the ground in front of them. The hood was pulled off and the bloody face of Remus Lupin was revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I referenced the use of electronics quite a bit in this chapter. It will be explained how Hermione has gotten them to work.


	12. Primus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

Draco was the first person to protest, "I came here for Harry Potter not some werewolf," he spat. He knew if he spoke first he would be setting the example. Severus and Ron were somewhere around and it would be best to encourage the other wizards to disregard Remus and leave him in this place.

Higgs agreed, "You've wasted my time Primus. This werewolf means nothing to me."

"I have unfinished business with Potter," McLaggen said his voice dripping with venom, "Not this dog." He had this very unhealthy fixation on Hermione. She rejected him regularly and he blamed Harry for that.

"We had an unfortunate series of events that lead to Potter's rescue by his girlfriend or maybe she's his wife now Ginny Weasley," the hooded figure said.

"Did you even have him?" Gregory Goyle questioned angrily.

Primus pointed his wand at Goyle and hit him with the Curciatus curse. "Don't ever question me," he said as Goyle fell to the ground writhing in pain. Primus let the spell continue for 30 seconds before he put an end to the torture.

"I assure you we have plans in place to flush him out. You will get to bid on him again," Primus said.

"But in the meantime, you want us to settle for this piece of filth?" William Crabbe, the younger brother of the deceased Vincent Crabbe, asked.

"Fenrir might be more interested in him than us," Draco further offered steering the group present away from the idea of bidding on Remus.

"I agree with Mr. Malfoy," Higgs said.

"If no one is interested in the werewolf, we will deal with him," Primus said. He signalled to the guards who levitated his unconscious form and took him back to the room where he came from.

"How are you sending us back?" Draco inquired.

Primus signalled to an assistant and he came forward with a variety of different items which told Draco they were going back via portkey.

"For future reference Primus, and I think the rest of the wizards here agree, we would much rather a different method of transport. Perhaps floo or broom?" Draco suggested.

There was a general grumble of agreement from the rest of the wizards present.

Primus levelled his wand at Draco but he didn't blink or move a muscle. He stared straight ahead at the hooded figure. All chatter around them came to an abrupt halt. Draco tried to see what features he could make out under the hood but Primus was wearing a black mask underneath to completely obscure his face.

"I will take your suggestion under advisement Mr. Malfoy," Primus said.

"We would be most grateful if you do," Draco responded bravely. Perhaps he was spending too much time with Hermione. He didn't know where this brave streak was coming from?

The assistant started to hand out the portkeys and as soon as the wizards received them they activated. Draco was last in line and he was offered a yellow rubber ducky. He raised an eyebrow at the assistant.

"You expect me to hold that?" he asked in a superior tone.

"It's either that or the dildo?" the assistant said with a giant smile.

Draco grabbed the silly yellow object from the assistant. He was very tempted to tell him exactly where he could shove the other object. When Draco landed at his final destination he found himself just outside Malfoy Manor. It had been a very long time since he had looked at his house from the outside. For the first time in a decade, he used the front door to enter his home.

* * *

Snape covered Ron's mouth with his hand to prevent him from reacting to Remus battered state. The annoying boy wanted to rescue Remus right away but he stopped him. Ron was as exasperating as he had been when Snape taught him at Hogwarts. Couldn't the boy see they were in a room full of wizards and there was no way the two of them could fight their way through them, to Remus, pick him up, fight their way to the balcony and escape? But he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. The youngest Weasley boy never showed any aptitude for solving serious problems. He was also very unobservant. Snape knew that Draco would find a much easier way for them to rescue Remus. He could trust Draco to think like a Slytherin and manipulate the situation in their favour.

A few minutes later, he was smirking with pride when Primus ordered Remus out of the room. The door to the back opened and Snape pulled Ron through it. They were on the top landing of a dark stairwell. It was quite narrow which meant the guards holding Remus would be limited to a single file. He did not want to tackle the guards by the door in case the commotion alerted the others inside so he ordered Ron to descend. They came to another landing with a door and another set of stairs continuing down to a basement Snape guessed. He opened the door and surveyed the area. There were several large windows that would be perfect for their escape.

"We stop them here. You hold on to Remus and I will take care of the guards. There are large windows on the other side of this door that we can use to escape," Snape said. "Do you understand," he asked. They heard the footsteps of the guards on the tops stairs.

"Yes," Ron answered.

"Are you sure?" Snape asked again.

"I'm not as daft as you think I am," Ron snapped.

"You have yet to prove that to me," Snape sneered.

They stopped talking as the first guard reached the middle of the stairs. There was one guard in front of Remus and two guards in the back. Snape was positive he could neutralise them easily. He waited till the first guard was just about to step on the landing and he wordlessly cast the stupefy spell. The red light left his wand and sank into the guard who collapsed on the landing. A few seconds later, the second and third guards were falling forward with Remus and Ron had to rush forward to catch his friend.

"Let's get moving," Snape said opening the door and looking left and right before stepping out into the open area of what seemed to be a living room.

"A little help please?" Ron said.

"Use a charm to lighten his weight again," Snape suggested.

"I would but I'm using both arms to hold him up!" Ron snapped.

"Must I do everything myself," Snape said sternly.

He drew his wand and cast a spell that made Remus as light as a feather.

"Much better," Ron said holding Remus with one hand. He used his other hand to take his wand as well as miniature broom out. With a quick spell his broom was back to the correct size. He settled himself on it and then pulled Remus on in front of him.

Snape did the same with his broom before using a quick spell to open the window. He really hated flying but this was the best way to get out of there. Ron kicked off the ground and was soon out the window. Snape cast his eyes over the room quickly before kicking off the ground to hover on his broom. He nearly hit the side of the window on the way out. As soon as they passed the anti-apparition wards and he figured out where in the countryside they were, he was aparating back home.

* * *

Much to Hermione's chagrin, Harry followed her all the way back to the Ministry of Magic. The Ministry was mostly empty at that hour but there were a few wizards and witches milling about, mostly cleaning staff though. They stared at him in awe but he ignored them. He was convinced if the bad guys knew he was back there was no need to keep his presence in England a secret anymore. They could gossip all they want about him.

They turned down a corridor that led to the Auror Office. The office was mostly empty but the one other Auror that was there acknowledged her with a simple grunt of Granger before his eyes widened at the sight of Harry. Hermione ignored him choosing to walk down a corridor between the cubicles towards a large office in the back labelled Shacklebolt. She stopped at the cubicle that was closest to Kingsley's office. Seamus's was right next to hers she said before making the off handed comment that Kingsley liked to keep a close eye on them.

Harry imagined Hermione's desk would have been neatly organised but instead it was covered with stacks of parchment, though they were in neat piles. She sighed when she looked at the tall stacks. "You see Harry you don't want to be an Auror. Even a witch as organised as me can't keep things straight around here."

Harry was getting fed-up of her telling him what he can and can't do, "I'm sure it's only because you are short staffed at the moment. With a little extra help, you'll be back on top of everything," Harry said alluding to the fact that he wanted to join the Aurors.

Hermione read him loud and clear, "Seamus will be out of St. Mungo's by the end of next week and things will be back to normal," she countered. "There's no need for any extra help."

"Really," Harry said pulling a piece of parchment off her desk dated six months ago. Hermione pulled it out of his hand.

"Oh, the Hanson Report. I was looking for that," she turned it into a paper airplane and it wooshed out of the office.

"I am not leaving England again Hermione. I have made up my mind. I want to be an Auror," Harry insisted.

"You only came back because you thought you saw me die. We found a solution to that so you can continue travelling the world," Hermione said stubbornly.

Harry ignored her. "I would appreciate it if you could point me in the direction to apply for a job as an Auror," he asked with a pleasant tone.

Hermione smiled and in an equally pleasant tone she replied, "I'm sorry but the Ministry does not officially open until 8:00am. You will have to come back at that time."

Harry's eyes bored into Hermione's as she stared defiantly back.

"Why do you want me to leave so badly?" he asked her. There was something clearly bothering her and he knew it was the reason she wanted him to leave.

"I have to talk to Cole," she said trying to change the subject and move away from Harry.

He placed his hand on her wrist to stop her from running away from him.

"Bullshit! You're going to talk to me now. You've ducked and avoided me since I've been back and I want to know why," Harry stated fiercely.

"I've been busy." Hermione replied nonchalantly as she pulled her hand free from his loose grip on her.

"I deserve an answer," he insisted trying to reach for her hand again.

"You deserve an answer?" Hermione said in disbelief as she moved her hands out of his reach. "I don't need to explain to you anything that happened over the last few years."

Harry ignored her astonishment and continued on with his questioning. "How could you even stand to look at the Ferret after the way he treated you in school. I feel like you prefer his company to mine."

Hermione looked him straight in the eye, "Maybe I do prefer Draco to you. Now leave us alone. You've found your answers. England is not the place for you."

Harry would be lying if he said Hermione's words hadn't hurt. He would never have dreamt in a thousand years that one of his best friends would pick Draco Malfoy over him but his gut told him she was hiding something and he couldn't waste time sulking over his hurt feelings. He knew he needed to find out what it was. He needed to break down those brick walls she had built around herself during his absence. He also knew from experience that a direct assault would not work. She would just resist with equal force and he would get nowhere. He had to be tactful and thankfully he had learnt a few things while he was gone. He decided to try and throw her off guard and changed the subject.

"How did Ginny find me?" Harry inquired in a soft tone. He tried to remove any hint of the anger he had had previously.

Hermione turned to face him fully. She placed her hand gently against his chest, the tips of her fingers touching his otter pendant. The pendant he had purchased because it reminded him of her. The otter was her patronous, her protector and with it he felt like she was protecting him as well. The heat from her hand sank into him and his heartrate picked up.

"There's a tracker in your otter," she replied softly.

"I got it in Orlando," Harry whispered. He didn't know why he said that. It was just a random thought that popped into his head.

He encircled her smaller hand with his and pulled her into a hug. He felt her tense and then she slowly relaxed into him. Her hair smelled of vanilla and Harry closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

"How did you get a tracker in it?" he asked.

"I slipped you some sleeping draught in a beer to you one night at the pub and then I followed you home and placed the tracker in your pendant. I needed to use something you always had on you," she explained.

Harry couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips. Her otter really had been protecting him all through the years.

"What are you protecting me from?" Harry asked as he unconsciously held her closer to him.

"Me, protect the Great Harry Potter," she said with a mocking laugh.

"Hermione, you have never been able to lie to me and you still can't. Drop the act and tell me what's wrong," he pleaded softly in her left ear.

She remained silent and Harry cursed her stubborn streak.

"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you when I left. I thought I was doing the right thing. I didn't want to make you choose between your parents and me," he confessed.

She looked up at his apologetic gaze.

"Harry, there was no choice to make. My parents understood. I was your friend and I promised I would be there for you. I would have always remained in contact with them." she told him.

"Was?" Harry questioned her past tense.

Her gaze dropped to the floor, "I still am your friend Harry. That's why you need to trust me. England is not the place for you."

"Why?" Harry asked again as he reached up with his right hand and gently brought her face back up to meet his eyes.

"I don't want you to die Harry," Hermione admitted as a lonely tear escaped her watery eyes.

Harry gently brushed the tear away with his thumb. "I'm not afraid of death."

"Har," she tried to protest.

"It's my decision whether or not to stay, not yours. Since I've been back I've noticed that things haven't turned out the way I thought they would have. I was a fool. I thought I could solve my problems by running away from them but I can't. Whatever it is you want me to run away from, it won't solve it. Everyone will know I'm back now. I won't be surprised if tomorrows _Prophet_ has some ridiculous headline about me," he stated.

"You're right about the prophet. That's about the only thing that hasn't changed in seven years!" she agreed with a little chuckle before she sobered. She looked him square in the eye and chewed on her bottom. Harry knew she was debating with herself about what to tell him and he saw the moment she decided to tell him what was bothering her.

"I had a premonition," she said.

Harry frowned, "I thought you didn't have much faith in them. After all we have beat two already," he pointed out.

"I saw you die. You were wearing bright red Auror robes Harry. And now you're back and you want to join the Aurors," she said in a bit of a panic.

"Hey," Harry said rubbing her back gently. "Tell me what you saw. We can beat it," he said confidently.

"We go to the Room of Requirement. Ron was with us. They were holding Ginny and Luna hostage. Primus tried to kill me with the avada kadvra but you stepped in front of me and the spell killed you," Hermione explained.

Harry pursed his lips, "Sounds simple enough."

Hermione punched him hard in the arm, "There's nothing simple about your death."

"Ow, and I meant stopping my death. The next time you have the dream I want you to take note of everything," Harry said.

Hermione rolled her eyes, "I have. Its recorded in a diary back at the Manor."

"Let's get going then," Harry said.

Hermione smiled, "I just need to get something off my desk and I'll be right with you."

Harry nodded. He felt someone's gaze on him and found the other Auror there watching him intently.

"Alright," Hermione said with a stack of parchment in her hand, "Let's go."

"Let me help you with that," Harry said taking half her load.

He was keenly aware of the Auror watching them leave the office.

* * *

Hermione's and Luna's smiling faces greeted Harry when he arrived in the Manor covered with soot. He frowned as he brushed the offending substance off his robes.

"Why the winklytoad face Harry?" Luna inquired.

Harry blinked twice trying to figure out what a winklytoad was before he noticed Hermione shaking her head fervently behind Luna. He got the message. Don't ask.

"Is Ron back yet?" Harry asked his voice laden with concern.

"No, no word from Draco, or Professor Snape either," Luna said worriedly.

Harry wanted to question their decision to send Ron with Snape but that didn't seem like a very smart thing to do at the moment. He had to remember that he was the newcomer to this group. They had been functioning as a unit for years and it was not his place to tell them how to do things. Instead he chose to ask, "Where's Ginny?"

"She's in the dining hall with Neville," Luna stated as she headed to one of the exit doors with Hermione.

"Neville's still here?" Harry frowned as he followed behind them.

"He was working on cleaning up the dragon sized mess you guys made earlier," Luna informed him as she stepped through the ward that guarded the entrance.

"Oh," Harry had forgotten about that plant. With everything that had happened in the day, it seemed so far away. He paused before he reached the ward, mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen as he walked through it. This time was just as bad as the first time and he found himself face first in a cold steel bucket while Hermione laughed away. He had no idea what was so funny about him retching into a metal bucket. He his stomach settled and he felt strong enough to stand up, he followed them to the dining hall. Before he even opened the door, he heard Ginny's laughter.

"Neville stop it!" she said as he stepped into the room.

"I'm serious. My students really did that," Neville said. Harry noticed that his old classmate was completely fixated on her.

"I don't believe you," Ginny huffed crossing her hands in front of her chest.

"They're cute together," Harry heard Hermione tell Luna. From the way her head had cocked to the side he could tell that she was studying the interaction between the two.

"Ms. Granger, are you playing cupid?" Harry teased.

"Nonsense, you know I don't believe in Cupid," she responded primly.

Harry gave her a wide smile.

"There you are!" Ginny exclaimed. "We went through a lot of trouble to rescue you and then you just disappeared on us. Not even a thank you. I mean I know you were raised by rude muggles but I was sure my mother had drilled some manners into you when you stayed at the Burrow,"

"Sorry, Hermione needed me," he said giving the fiery redhead his best puppy dog face.

Ginny watched him skeptically, "I'm sure." Her eyes cut between him and Hermione suspiciously.

"So got everything cleaned up Neville?" Hermione asked moving the conversation away from Harry. He gave her a grateful smile. She was always good at diverting attention away from him. Dobby quietly appeared with a glass for water for Hermione and Harry wondered how the elf knew to bring her water.

"Of course, I even got samples for my seventh year Herbology class," he said flashing her a pearly white smile. She rolled her eyes at him and a yawn escaped her.

"Go get some sleep," Luna encouraged, "We have your mom's party followed by the twins' party tomorrow and you definitely need to be alert for that or you might find yourself the colour of a farkle."

"What are my brothers' parties like?" Ginny asked curiously.

"A nightmare!" responded the other two girls around the table.

"I think I should follow Luna's suggestion and get some sleep before I get called in on another case. Nev, can you do me a favour and request an Order meeting for tomorrow there're several issues that need to be discussed," she said as she stretched in her chair.

She picked up her glass to finish off her water just as Luna asked, "Why don't you go curl up with Harry?"

Water came tumbling out of Hermione's mouth and all over Harry as he arched an eyebrow at Luna's comment.

"Oh dear this can get a bit confusing," the blonde said as she looked at Harry.

"I didn't realise that I could be confusing," he stated picking up his wand to perform a drying spell on his robes.

"Hermione has a big black bear with green eyes that a previous boyfriend won for her in a fair. She curls up with it every time she goes to sleep. Her mom called it Harry and the name stuck," Luna elaborated while Hermione's cheeks had a pinkish tinge to them.

"Previous boyfriend?" Harry asked. It was meant to be a tease but the thought of Hermione dating hadn't settled very well with him. He wondered how Ron would react to this bit of news.

"Don't get your knickers in a twist Potter, that particular boyfriend didn't last very long," Draco said casually strolling into the room.

"Draco!" both Luna and Hermione exclaimed. Once he was close enough both girls drew him into a tight hug.

Harry could faintly hear, the blonde wizard whispering to them that he was safe and there was nothing to worry about.

"Where is my brother?" Ginny asked worriedly.

"I assume both he and Severus were able to escape with Remus," he answered.

"Remus?" Hermione asked. Harry noted the familiar way her eyebrows drew together when she was trying to figure out something.

"Instead of Potter's head, they were offering us Remus. I managed to sway the group into not bidding on Remus. He was taken away and I assume Severus and Ron must have followed them and freed him," he stated.

"We need to find them," Hermione said walking towards the doorway but Draco grabbed a hold of her arm and spun her to face him. He placed his hands on both of her shoulders, "No. You are going to sleep. The four of us can handle this. If we need you, we will come and get you. I promise," he said.

Hermione deflated, "Ok."

About ten minutes after Hermione left, Severus arrived with the news that they had successfully rescued Remus but he was too badly injured to apparate with to St. Mungo's so Ron was flying all the way there. Severus estimated that it would take an hour. He also sent an owl to Kingsley with the location of the mansion they had gathered. The Aurors would be raiding the place soon.

* * *

The moon was shining bright over the rolling hills, a lone figure in scarlet robes apparated into the middle of the field. It was the closest he could get to this particular safe house. After getting his bearing he slowly walked over to a large wild cherry tree in full bloom. The beautiful white flowers look surreal in the moonlight. He paused for a second just before he reached the tree and exhaled before heading forward again. He felt as though ice cold water had been thrown on him and his body responded with a violent shiver. He inhaled once he saw an elaborate mansion appear in front of him.

He walked forward but before he could knock, the front door was flung open and a very terrified looking girl spoke to him.

"What happened? Is the bitch dead?" she asked him immediately.

"Potter interfered. I assume the other wizards failed to guard him properly and he escaped," he said as he entered the house and shut the door behind him. He reached for the blanket that was at the door and wrapped it around him.

"The boss is really upset. They were both supposed to be dead by now," she said as she let her eyes drift fearfully upstairs. "Wartman and Cringley are dead," the girl told him.

The man nodded his head. The boss did not tolerate failure at all. Those two wizards had been guarding Potter. The hideout at King's Cross had been very convenient and now that it had been discovered their plans would have to be modified.

"How did the auction go?" he asked as his eyes drifted to the stairs that led to the room upstairs.

"The boss tried to use the werewolf in place of Potter but it was very embarrassing. To make matters worse the werewolf was rescued and the boss had to relinquish that site. You know how much the boss liked that site," she said to him.

"How did they find out about that place?" he asked.

"I don't know but the boss wants to see you," she said.

He nodded and approached the stairs but the girl gripped on to his arm.

"Be careful," She said

"Don't worry darling. I'm still of value to the boss," he said before he walked up the stairs and disappeared through the door leaving the scared girl at the bottom of the stairs praying that she didn't see any flashes of green from the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	13. Parties

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

"Harry!" Hermione screamed sitting up in bed frantically. It took her a few seconds to realise that she wasn't in the room of requirement. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her rapid breathing. She tried to hold onto some of the details in the dream but her mind pushed it away quickly. She was always good at remembering her dreams and she didn't understand why this one always faded so fast. She reached across to her bedside table where she kept the diary that she used to record the details of that dream. Sometimes if she reread her previous notations it would jog a memory of the dream.

She had no such luck today and put her diary back on the table next to the clock that told her it was 6:45am. She had slept for five hours which was far better than what she had been getting in the last few months. After her usual morning routine, she headed down to the kitchen for breakfast. She found Draco anxiously pacing in the kitchen while the house elves all watched their master go back and forth. She thought Misty and Dobby looked quite adorable as their heads turned from side to side, their eyes never breaking contact with the Slytherin wizard.

She knew Draco had to have been rattled by the events the night before. He had come across last night as disinterested but it must have reminded him of Crumpet. For Draco, finding Remus bloodied and beaten was a repeat of an incident that had happened six years ago after he got out of Azkaban but the only difference was that wizard hadn't survived. Draco had been staying at the Leaky Cauldron with his old cell mate from Azkaban, Phoso Crumpet. Crumpet was a kind old wizard who had been accused of stealing secret documents from the Ministry during the war with Voldemort. He had claimed that he was under the influence of the Imperius curse but they didn't believe him. He eventually admitted that Lucius had threatened the life of his granddaughter if he didn't provide them with top secret documents. Scared, the old man did the only thing he thought he could, he agreed. Phoso had not missed the irony that Malfoy's son was his cell mate.

The older wizard did not hold a grudge though and had helped the young Malfoy adjust to prison life. Considering Draco was extremely spoilt, there were so many shocks for him. Phoso had shared his food with him and given him advice on how to keep the Dementors away. They had talked a lot and when Draco was being released he pulled some strings so that Crumpet could be released with him. When Barteby had first made the initial offer to Malfoy it had been very tempting for him to fall back into his old criminal ways. It was actually Crumpet that had reminded Draco how hard life was in Azkaban and that he should do everything possible to avoid living with those Dementors again.

Draco wisely said no and continued about fixing his life. A fortnight after the initial confrontation, he had received a message to meet Barteby in Knockturn Alley. The Blonde would have ignored the letter if it hadn't come with Crumpet's family ring. Draco immediately headed out. Hermione spotted him heading into Knockturn Alley and assumed he was up to no good.

She was close enough to hear the anguish in his voice when he discovered four of Barteby's men using the cruciatus curse on his new friend. Crumpet was bleeding severely from the side and his features were barely recognizable because of the heavy bruising he had on his face. Crumpet pleaded with Draco to leave and not give in to their request. He told Draco that his life wasn't worth the rest of Draco's. This was the turning point in both of their lives. After everything the older wizard had done for Draco, he realised that it would have been very wrong to let Crumpet die to save his own skin. The young Malfoy drew his wand and decided to fight. The wizards tossed Crumpet aside and focused on Draco. The poor Slytherin was no match for them.

Hermione could hardly believe that Malfoy was standing up for someone but Slytherin or not, four on one odds were not good and she would not let a fellow wizard who was trying to do good, face those odds alone. She joined the fight without a second's hesitation. She was surprised to find that the Aurors joined at the same time and the wizards were subdued. They found out after the attack that they were going to kill Draco regardless of what decision he made. The Slytherin didn't care, he only wanted to attend to his friend.

Hermione found herself tagging along with Draco to St. Mungo's. She remembered the ghostly look on his face when he had been told that Phoso had moved on to the next great adventure. She felt something tug at her heart and an overwhelming compulsion to comfort Draco. She took him by the arm and led him into the muggle world. He hadn't even protested. He was introduced to his first cappuccino. She had expected him to call her a mudblood but he hadn't. Instead they spent the night talking about Barteby and how Draco wanted to make him pay for what he had done. It was that night that they decided that Draco would be a double agent for the Order and she would join the Aurors.

Hermione knew it wasn't because of her, or Luna or the Weasleys that he changed. It was because of Crumpet and the kindness that the man had showed him despite his history. He had been the only one willing to look past the Malfoy name and try to see the scared boy that resided inside. Hermione also realised that Crumpet sacrificed his life so Draco would have a good shot at living his. She could apply that to her life. Harry had left so he wouldn't drown her in his sorrows.

"Draco," she said softly interrupting his pacing. When his head lifted he could see that his eyes were red and bloodshot. "Is it Remus?" she asked fearfully.

"No, they said he would be ok," Draco informed her.

Hermione closed the distance between them and pulled him into a hug. "It's ok," she whispered into his ear.

"No it's not ok," Draco yelled pushing Hermione away. "Don't you get it! I killed her," he said.

"What?" Hermione asked. She had no idea what Draco was talking about but the agony in his voice was clear.

Draco pulled a piece of parchment out of his robe and threw it at her. Hermione caught it easily. It was a note from Primus stating that all traitors will be killed.

"I stole the second portkey from Priscilla. I seduced her and then took the invitation out of her robes while she was sleeping. Her battered body was found early this morning," Draco said in anguish.

"Draco, Primus did that not you," Hermione said gently.

"It was a consequence of my action. I may as well have fired the curse myself when I took the invitation," he said in anguish.

"You could not have known that he would have her killed," Hermione said approaching him slowly and taking both of her hands in his.

"But I should have! It's what my father would have done," Draco countered tears leaking out the side of his eyes.

"But you aren't your father Draco," Hermione said squeezing his hands gently as she pleaded with him, "You're better than him. The fact that it didn't even cross your mind shows how different the two of you are."

He pushed her away, "I'm going to spend a little time by Natalie."

Hermione watched him flee the kitchen.

"Mistress?" Dobby asked, the question about his masters state of mind was conveyed in Dobby's worried eyes.

"Don't worry Dobby. We'll take care of him," Hermione said.

* * *

**St. Mungo's waiting room**

Harry, Ron, Ginny, Luna and Tonks were in the family waiting room. The healer in charge of Remus was waiting for the latest round of scans to be completed before she gave them a full update on Remus's status. They had only been told when they arrived that his condition wasn't life threatening. Tonks was on the verge of busting the doors down to see her husband when Harry pulled her into the waiting room. The healers needed to do their jobs and they wouldn't accomplish that if Tonks was in there with them. He distracted her by telling her about their time in the muggle world starting with the 2 years he spent as a DEA undercover agent in Colombia before moving onto the one year he spent working with Interpol in Austria.

"Harry with so much muggle experience I'm sure you can become an Auror quickly. We're really swamped. A new class is supposed to graduate in three months. I can talk to the trainers and see if I can get you in, that is, if that's still what you want to do," Tonks offered sincerely. She was seated facing the door so she could see the healers approach.

"I don't think I could do anything else," Harry admitted. After his talk with Hermione the night before, he was determined to become an Auror. He would not disappoint her again.

"Though there would be one drawback," Luna pointed out with a small smile.

"What's that?" Ron asked curiously.

"How would Harry feel being ordered around by Hermione?" Luna expounded.

"Oh that's not unusual, she bossed us around all seven years at Hogwarts," Ron stated matter-of-factly in a tone that Hermione was known to use.

Harry understood what Luna was trying to point out to him. It wouldn't be the same as Hogwarts. He wouldn't be the leader anymore. Hermione would be in charge and it would be her lead he had to follow even if he didn't like her orders.

"I can do it," The raven haired wizard stated with a determined look on his face.

Tonks gave him a small smile before standing quickly and rushing to the door. A group of healers was making their way towards the room. Harry instantly recognised Cho Chang. She was as beautiful as he remembered. She was also very taken if he was to go by the growing baby bump she had. He would guess she was six months along.

"How is Remus?" Tonks asked immediately.

"He suffered quite a few broken bones and a lot of muscle damage. Nothing life threatening, but he will be here for a while, especially with the full moon in three days. We aren't sure how the transformation will affect his injuries but we are hoping to have most of them healed by then," Cho said to her.

Tonks nodded solemnly, "Can I see him?"

"Yes, but only one visitor at a time," another healer instructed looking at the large group that had gathered around them to hear the update. "He's still pretty weak. He's in room 3 on this floor."

Tonks wasted no time, quickly rushing out of the room without a word to anyone. The group of healers followed after her but Cho decided to stay behind.

"So it's true. You are back," Cho said to Harry.

"You heard pretty quickly," Luna commented suspiciously.

"Front page of the _Daily Prophet_ Lovegood," Cho replied acidly. Her lips curled in disgust and her eyes narrowed at Luna. Whatever prettiness Harry had seen before had disappeared completely from her face. There was definitely something wrong between her and Luna.

"You're a healer now?" Harry said trying to ease the tension that formed.

"Yes, it seemed like the right thing to do," Cho replied with a wry smile.

"It's hard to believe you know right from wrong," Luna quipped.

"Don't judge me on that high horse of yours Lovegood," Cho spat at her.

"You're lucky I have a healthy respect for life and pregnant witches or I would hex you into the next century," Luna threatened.

"Ladies," Ginny said getting in between the two. "We're not here to fight. I'm sure you have other patients to see Cho," she said looking at Cho before turning a stern eye on Luna, "We're just here to support our friends, Remus and Tonks."

Cho lifted her chin high, "It was nice seeing you Harry. Perhaps we could catch up sometime."

Harry gave her a fake smile, "Perhaps."

As soon as she was out the room Ginny rounded on Luna, "What was that about?"

Luna discreetly cast the muffliato spell before she started her explanation. "That snake and her best friend, Marietta Edgecomb, have held a grudge against Hermione since the DA incident. There's a renowned Healer here. He patched Hermione up quite a few times after bad missions. They started dating and it was getting pretty serious but Hermione was forced to break it off after he got Cho pregnant. Cho claims she was with him first and Hermione broke them up. Cho says he finally came to his senses and went back to her but a disguised Draco beat the shit out of him and he admitted that Cho had seduced him and the result of the one night stand was her pregnancy. He's an honourable man so he married her."

"That's horrible," Ginny said. It was hard to believe that Cho was capable of something like that.

Ron's face was stormy, "I might have to actually thank Malfoy for something," he said with clenched fists.

"We always take care of each other. It's how we've survived," Luna said.

A sombre mood fell over the room as they waited for Tonks to return.

"Ginny, do you want to work at the _Daily Prophet_?" Luna asked suddenly. It was a complete 180 from their previous conversation and it took everyone in the room a while to realise exactly what it was the blonde witch had suggested.

"Uh, I don't know. I worked for a beauty magazine once and I enjoyed that but I don't think the _Prophet_ would have the same feel," she said as her perfectly shaped eyebrows creased in the centre of her forehead.

"You could write a beauty column. I'm sure it will be a welcomed change away from some the news the _Prophet_ offers today. You might also be able to convince some of the writers not to be too hard on the Aurors, particularly Hermione. Marietta loves to run Hermione's name through the mud," Luna revealed.

"That little sneak works for the prophet now?" Ron interrupted.

"Yes, she's the real reason I think Ginny should get a job there. Cho will tell you she's an excellent reporter, always getting the scoop on big issues, like the death of a high ranking Ministry official last month but what we really want to know is who her sources are?" Luna explained. "I'm sure she's the one that wrote the article Cho referenced about Harry's return."

"So you want me to snoop around?" Ginny asked excitedly.

"No," Luna replied firmly. "I want you to work there and keep track of who Marietta meets. If we can find her source, we might be able to find Primus but under no circumstances should you 'snoop'," Luna emphasised. Mrs. Weasley didn't deserve to lose her only daughter especially considering that she had been gone for the last seven years.

Ginny's features fell, "That sounds boring."

"It's an idea and it's your decision what you want to do. I was merely suggesting a potential option that would help The Order," Luna stated.

Tonks returned and then they all took turns going into the see Remus before they left.

* * *

Ginny Weasley sat alone in the kitchen at Malfoy Manor with the Daily Prophet in front of her. She was seriously considering Luna's proposition. She had read the newspaper from front to back, something she had never done before in her life. Written across the front page was an article about the return of England's Hero, Harry Potter, with a very good picture of him in St. Mungo's. Ginny wondered if Cho had taken the picture. Luna had indeed been correct. The article was written by Marietta Edgecomb and the witch had lambasted the Auror department, particularly Hermione, and Magical Law Enforcement for the current crime situation. She went on to theorise that Harry's return was a good sign and that he had returned to save England again. Other reporters had also commented on England's hero and Ginny thought it quite pathetic the way they idolised Harry. She wondered if she had been that bad when she was in Hogwarts.

Luna was right about a beauty column improving the newspaper. It was filled with dreary, depressing stories and she had to force herself to read it all the way through. Many ideas had occurred to her on how to improve the paper and she quickly started scribbling her ideas down with a quill. After she had five pieces of parchments full of ideas in front of her, she realised she had found something she really wanted to do. She just needed to convince the Editor at the newspaper of hire her.

She had most of the evening to herself since Harry and Ron had gone to Hermione's mother's party. Ginny didn't really know Mrs. Granger that well so she didn't feel comfortable going. She knew they would return around 10pm since they had to attend the party that the twins were throwing in their honour so it would give her enough time to flesh out her ideas and prepare her pitch to the Editor.

"May I ask what's got you so busy?" a voice startled her from the doorway.

Ginny looked up and was met with a pair of warm brown eyes.

"Neville, what brings you here?" she asked glancing at the clock on the wall. She had been working for three hours straight.

"The twins' party, I told Luna I would meet her here," he explained to her from the doorway.

Ginny felt a bit disappointed when Neville mentioned he was there to meet Luna but she covered it with a smile. "Come have a seat," she said pointing to the chair next to her. She started gathering her parchment pages together. She had made quite a mess of the table.

"What is all this?" Neville asked taking a seat next to her.

"Research for a job," Ginny said with a wide smile. "So you're going to the party with Luna?" She queried as she gave him a quick look over. His hair was neatly combed and he wore a loose navy blue shirt that hid his round tummy nicely. It look really sexy on him. His complimenting black pants just added to his overall appeal.

"Yeah, Luna and I have an arrangement," he explained.

"An arrangement?" the redhead queried with an arched eyebrow.

"Not like that!" Neville responded horrified.

"You'll have to elaborate Mr. Longbottom," Ginny said in a prim voice.

The Herbology Professor sighed, "You have a mischievous streak just like the twins."

"Glad you noticed, now spill the beans on you and Luna," Ginny said dryly.

"Luna has … well …. she's not quite … no that's not the word. She's …. no that's not the word I want either … she," he stammered looking for the right words to describe the situation.

"Spit it out Neville," Ginny said impatiently as her fingers started tapping away on the table.

"She's afraid of men," Neville blurted out. "No that came out wrong as well. She's afraid of making the same mistake she made with Nicholas."

Silence descended the room as Ginny realised he was talking about the wizard that had created the virus that caused the death of her father. When Neville sensed she was comfortable he continued with his explanation.

"She likes me to approve of her dates. I was the only person that didn't like Nicholas and she feels that it was because on some unconscious level, I realised what he was truly capable of," he explained softly to her.

"So you're her lie detector then," Ginny surmised with a sense of relief.

"In a way yes," he replied after analysing what she had suggested.

"But wouldn't that affect your dating life?" the youngest Weasley asked curiously.

"What dating life! Who wants to data a Professor of Herbology at Hogwarts?" he said in a Professor like tone.

"Neville! Don't put yourself down. You might be surprised how many witches might be turned on by the fact that you're a Professor," she told him.

Neville's face blushed a bit and she could see that he was still a bit shy despite the confidence that he had shown her earlier.

"Would you be one of those witches?" he asked taking a risk he hoped would pay off.

Ginny started twirling a strand of her hair around her index finger. "That depends Professor, will you punish me if my skirt is too short?" she flirted with him.

"Well, Ms. Weasley that depends on how short the skirt is," Neville said leaning closer to her. He glanced at her red lips and back up at her brown eyes.

"Professor, I think it's short enough for a private detention with you," she flirted back. Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips and she was pleased when Neville's eyes snapped to the movement before he swallowed hard.

"My office, tomorrow night at 8?" Neville instructed leaning closer to her.

"Sounds perfect," she purred before she closed the remaining distance and kissed him firmly on the lips.

* * *

**Mrs. Granger's house**

Ron looked around the living room of Mrs. Granger's house and felt very uncomfortable. Most of the people at her party were in their late forties to mid-fifties. It was a gathering of single persons who had either divorced or lost a spouse. Despite the fact that some of these women were in excellent shape, Ron was a bit put off by the fact that they were old enough to be his mother. Needless to say, he was quite popular at the party though. The women were quite enamoured with him and his pocket was full of phone numbers. He wondered why it couldn't be this easy with women his own age.

Mrs. Knight was the woman who was currently engaging him in a conversation about the stolen suitcases that had been mysteriously returned to the police post at King's Cross. Of course, Ron knew the real story behind that but the woman kept prattling on about the thief and the untouched suitcases. She liked to solve mysteries and this one was irking her.

He glanced at the stairs and saw Harry sneaking upstairs. That was so not fair. He immediately excused himself from his present company on the excuse that he needed to use the bathroom. The woman's eyes dropped to his crotch and he really didn't want to know what she was thinking. His eyes quickly darted around the room for Hermione and saw her heading into the kitchen with an empty tray of appetizers. Luna was busy in the corner talking with one of the neighbours and Mrs. Granger had busied herself flirting with a lawyer she had met recently. The coast was clear. In two seconds flat he was at the base of the stairs and making a quick sprint up to Hermione's room.

"What's the score?" He asked as he opened the door and sat on the couch next to Harry.

"Australia has 30 more runs to make off of two and a half overs," Harry told him.

"Go Australia!" Ron shouted.

"Shut up. Are you trying to get Hermione up here?" A man with sandy brown hair asked.

"No," Ron replied sheepishly.

There had been only one other guy their age at the party. His name was Dray Crumpet and he was the son of a co-worker of Mrs. Granger. Like Ron, Dray was popular at these parties and he received repeat invites regularly. He couldn't turn Mrs. Granger down as she was a very important friend of his family and he agreed to endure these events. He said it wasn't that bad because half way through the night he could sneak into Hermione's room and watch sports on her large screen TV. Ron had a hard time believing that Hermione would have a TV in her room instead of a bookshelf full of books on some obscure area of magic but he was pleasantly surprised to find both the TV and a couch already positioned in the room.

The door opened and the girls came in glaring at the boys.

"A little help would be nice?" Hermione stated as she tapped her foot impatiently.

"The match is almost finished," Dray pleaded with adorable blue eyes.

"What's the score?" the brown-haired witch asked as she glanced at the top left hand side of the screen.

"Australia need 27 runs off two overs to win," Ron told her eagerly.

"You sound like you support Australia," Luna observed.

"I do," he stated proudly.

"Shouldn't you be supporting England!" Hermione pointed out indignantly.

"England isn't playing. They're playing against South Africa," Dray pointed out.

"Oh, so no Kevin Petersen then," she said disappointed.

"Since when are you into sports?" Harry asked curiously.

"She's not really into sports, more the sportsmen," Luna teased.

"Luna!" Hermione cried indignantly.

"Shhhh," everyone said to her.

A few minutes later the door opened again and an angry Mrs. Granger entered the room. She grabbed the remote and switched the TV off to loud protests from the guys.

"I don't care if the match is almost finished," the older woman told them angrily.

"But …." Dray started to say but was stopped with a firm glare from Mrs. Granger.

"There is a full tray of chicken wings in the kitchen that needs to be served Hermione. Luna, please refill some of the wine glasses, some people are beginning to sober up too quickly. Ron, Mrs. Lazarri is looking for you, Harry, Mrs. Crimply would like to continue talking to you about China and Dray, Mrs. Patrick would like to set you up with her daughter. Now get going!" she ordered sternly and all five left the room quickly.

* * *

The party lasted another hour before it came to an end.

"My feet are sore," Hermione complained as she propped her feet up on the chair next to her in the kitchen.

"I smell like wine," Luna said from the sink as she sniffed her white blouse which had a large red stain on it.

"Well, I have a date with Samantha Patrick," Dray informed them and Hermione and Luna both winced.

"I have a date with Mrs. Lazarri," Ron said trying to top the three that went before him.

They all looked at Harry next who lifted Hermione's feet off of the chair and sat down, placing her feet gently on his lap.

"What I had a good night," Harry replied.

"The night isn't over yet. There's still the twins' party to go," Dray said.

Harry and Ron looked astonished at Dray.

"You know the twins?" Ron asked.

Dray smirked at Ron and Harry thought that smirk was strangely familiar. Hermione was also suspiciously snickering along with Luna.

"Why do I get the feeling that there's something you're not telling me Ms. Granger," Harry said as he tickled the base of her feet.

"Harry, stop please," Hermione pleaded as she tried to pull her feet away from him.

"Not until you tell me. You've been glancing suspiciously at us all night," he said as he continued his assault on her feet.

"I'll tell you just stop please," she begged of him.

Harry's hand stopped his ministrations on her foot and she paused to look at her watch.

"Any second now," she said as her eyes stared at Dray.

Harry averted his gaze and soon found that Dray's face was changing. His eyes had gone from blue to grey and his hair was turning to a platinum blonde colour. His chin had become more pointed and Harry was now looking at the face of Draco Malfoy. There was a bright flash and hysterical laughter from the girls.

"Let me see," Luna said as she held out her hand for the camera.

Hermione gave it to her and laughter poured from Luna's small frame.

"Ron looks so adorable," the blonde witch cooed.

"Did you see Harry's face? He looks as though the world has ended!" Hermione told her friend.

From Harry's perspective the world had ended. He liked Dray. The man was funny and nice, most definitely not Draco Malfoy. How could he have gotten along with Draco Malfoy all night? He should have known though. Draco was supposed to be there and he hadn't seen him, that and the fact that the name should have been a dead giveaway. How could he have overlooked the obvious?

"You tricked us!" Ron accused Malfoy.

"If you're too dense to realise it was me, that's your problem," Draco drawled out.

"Dray please. You were getting along so well," Hermione pointed out.

"It's not my fault. I just thought that they would have realised at some point during the night, unless this means I'm a fabulous actor. Maybe I should go to Hollywood?" Draco boasted.

Harry's mouth opened and closed like a fish. He had so many questions, namely how Draco could act as a muggle so well. He hadn't made a single mistake that would have lead Harry to believe he was a wizard.

"Potter, surely you couldn't expect me to show up as myself. The Draco Malfoy in a muggle house! You never know whose around which is why I should get going," Draco said as he glanced out of the windows uncomfortably. "Oh tell the twins I'm sorry I couldn't make the party. I'll be by Natalie if you need me."

"You're skipping the twin's party?" Luna asked surprised but Draco never answered. He disappeared with a pop. She turned her confused face to Hermione.

"He's not in the party mood. He only came here because he fears my mother more than Fred and George," Hermione revealed.

Luna stared worriedly at the spot that Draco occupied.

"I'm going to get changed upstairs and I'll be back down shortly to join you," Hermione said.

"I think I'll go powder my nose," Luna said following Hermione out of the room.

Ron leaned back in his chair, "That's the universal female code for I want to go talk to my friends in private," he quipped.

Harry nodded.

Mrs. Granger found the boys alone in the kitchen.

"I can't tell you how happy I am that you're back," she gushed. "You are the missing pieces in my daughter's life."

"I'm sure Hermione doesn't need us to live a fulfilled life," Harry pointed out.

"I didn't mean it like that," Mrs Granger said. "Despite Hermione's accomplishments in this world, her life will always be mainly based in the magical world. I have accepted that. You two are very important to her. You are her first friends in the magical world. No one can ever replace that."

Both boys nodded. "What has Hermione accomplished in this world?" Harry asked curiously.

"Hermione has always been a very thoughtful child. Before we realised that Hermione was magically gifted, her father and I wanted her to go to the University of Cambridge to study. After her father's death she decided to go and study electrical engineering. It's how she figured out how to get muggle devices to work in the magical world. She was able to create a material that shielded the electrical components of devices from the magical force. I am very proud of her and it's much easier to tell friends and family that Hermione is an electrical engineer than she is a prominent member of the magical community."

"Wow," Ron said astonished.

"How on earth did she balance a first degree with her Auror training?" Harry asked.

"It was very difficult but Kingsley allowed her to take a lot of time away for her studies. He personally trained her at nights to pass the Auror test," Mrs. Granger said.

"I think it's time for Hermione to take a vacation," Ron said. "From all I've heard she's never taken one."

"That would be about right," Mrs. Granger reasoned.

"Ok we're back," Hermione said barging through the kitchen door. Luna looked seriously disturbed. Whatever she wanted to speak to Hermione about hadn't eased her worry.

They both gave Mrs. Granger a kiss on the cheek before dragging the boys over to the fire place. Soon they were back in the white room at Malfoy Manor. Harry and Ron both groaned at having to pass through the wards and Hermione mercilessly pushed them through.

"Maybe you should get some grubbly root from the kitchen to settle your stomach Ron," Luna told him on the other side of the ward.

The redhead wizard stared blankly at her.

"That sounds like a good idea. You take him to the kitchen while I show Harry my diary," Hermione suggested.

The two soon disappeared around the corner leaving Luna with Ron. She grabbed his hand and led him in the opposite direction to the kitchen where they found Ginny on top of Neville's lap in a passionate embrace.

"What the hell is going on here!" Ron yelled at the top of his lungs causing Neville to break the kiss with Ginny.

"Uh.." the poor wizard stammered in his defence while Ron's face swelled with anger.

"What does it look like Ronald?" Ginny glared at her older brother. She was a grown woman, why did her brother always have to do this when she was interested in a man.

The two siblings glared at each other before Ron broke the stare and headed upstairs.

Luna smiled at Ginny, "That certainly helped settle his stomach."

* * *

**The Broomstick**

The music was extremely loud as the six entered the club. It was unbelievably crowded and Harry wondered if Fred and George had invited the entire wizarding world. The club was decorated with various Weasley products and Harry had a sneaking suspicion that the twins were also using the party as a promotional activity for their new range of party products.

A horde of their classmates from Hogwarts surrounded Harry, Ron and Ginny to welcome them back. Ginny took the first opportunity to break free of the group with Neville and the newly formed couple found a nice dark corner where she hoped her brothers wouldn't find her. With six brothers to hide from she should have brewed herself some lucky potion because her chances were slim to none. Ron managed to steer his way out of crowd to the bar with a gorgeous witch on each arm leaving poor Harry to fend for himself.

An hour later Harry found himself tucked away on a sofa set that Hermione had conjured up in the back of the club. Her feet were back in his lap and he was massaging them for her. He enjoyed talking with his old classmates but it was clear that they had never stopped idolising him. Ron had joined them shortly afterwards. Luna had 'accidentally' dropped a couple drops of the twins new nosebleed drops in the drinks Ron had brought for his two 'friends', leaving him without female companionship. He was sulking on the sofa when Luna appeared.

"Let's dance!" a very tipsy Luna said as she grabbed Ron's hand to pull him on to the dance floor.

"I don't dance," Ron replied as he resisted her pull.

"Ron," Luna pleaded.

"Why don't you take Harry? He likes to dance," Ron said trying to get her attention off of him.

"But I don't want to dance with Harry, the finchworms might attack us. However, if I dance with you, we would be safe," Luna begged.

"Ron go and dance," Hermione instructed him.

"You're not my mother," he angrily replied to her.

"No but I'm sure I can get her here for you," the brunette responded quickly.

Ron glared at her before Harry too encouraged him to accept Luna's request. The redhead reluctantly agreed and followed the happy blonde onto the dance floor.

"She still likes him?" Harry asked as he eyed the couple. Luna was actively explaining to Ron how to dance in time to the music.

"Of course, they would be a perfect couple, if Ron wasn't so bull headed," Hermione responded as she smiled at the out of time couple.

"Maybe," Harry conceded before placing her feet on the ground. He stood and held his hand out to her. "Dance with me?" With a small smile she accepted and Harry tried to find an appropriate spot on the dance floor. They danced in silence for a while before Harry decided to talk to her.

"You know I missed you," Harry told her sincerely as a slow song started to play and he pulled her a bit closer to him.

"I know," she replied as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry that I hurt you," he continued.

Hermione placed her index finger over his mouth to silence him. "I don't want to talk about the past Harry. Let's just pick up where we left off. I'm your best friend Hermione Granger, the brightest witch of this generation," she said flashing him a dazzling smile.

"I'm your best friend Harry Potter and apparently England's Hero who's going to save you from the current crime wave!" Harry said in a fake super hero voice eliciting a chuckle from his dance partner. "But seriously, Tonks offered to get me in the training program with the current set of Aurors," he told her. She tensed in his arms.

"Harry that may not be such a good idea," Hermione started.

"Mione, let's just agree to disagree on this one. You've stated that you're vehemently against this and I've pretty much continued like normal and started doing it," Harry pointed out.

"You're right. Nothing unusual about that at all," Hermione agreed.

"True, it's beginning to feel like I never left," Harry said with a small smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	14. New Beginnings and Unfortunate Endings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter. This is a reminder that this story is AU after the sixth book. Happy reading. Primus makes a bold move in this chapter.

**3 months later**

Harry had been placed in an accelerated Auror programme to allow him to catch up to the current graduating class. There were many nights that he came home too tired to eat and both Ginny and Luna brought food to his room and threatened to force feed him if he didn't eat. He was sure it was because of them he had been able to remain physically strong throughout his training. What he had found challenging was not the physical nature of the job, he had learned a lot about dark magic and countering dark magic during the war, no it was the potions and antidotes. Every time a field test involved a potion he was reminded of Snape's taunting during his years at Hogwarts.

He passed Concealment and Disguise, Stealth and Tracking, Magical Beasts, and Dark magic identification with flying colours. He barely scraped by on Potions and Antidotes and Magical Plants. He knew he definitely earned his graduation and it was not handed to him because of his name.

After he passed all of his tests, he had a week's break before the official graduation ceremony. He decided to visit Godric's Hollow. After the war he had wanted nothing to do with the place and he made the decision to sell it. Mrs. Weasley had tried to warn him that it was a brash decision and that he needed to take some time before he made any financial decisions but he didn't listen. He contacted a magical realtor and listed the property for sale in the _Daily Prophet_. There were not many interested buyers because of the history. Not only had his parents been killed there but the house had housed one of Voldemort's horcruxes. The battle to retrieve it had been the very battle in which they lost Moody.

After a month of being on the market, a young couple requested information about the price. They were now starting out in life, both having lost their homes and families during the war. The witch was pregnant, due in two months and they couldn't stay in their cramped one bedroom apartment any more. They needed somewhere bigger to live and raise their child but they didn't have the galleons available to purchase anything big. They were willing to look past the morbid history. Harry sold it to them with one request that his parent's graves remain untouched.

The couple had renovated the outside of the house so it looked like a modern home. The lawn and garden were well manicured. There was a not a weed in sight, not even a garden gnome. Mrs. Weasley would want to know their secret. A peek through the window revealed several play sets for children. Godric's Hollow seemed like a happy place. He was pleased to know that he was actually helping the couple. No one appeared to be home so he circled around to the back where his parents' graves were located. He was stunned to discover that the couple had built a beautiful tomb for his parents. A lump formed in his throat and he angrily brushed a few stray tears aside. They had done something that Harry as their son should have done.

He opened the white marble door to the tomb and walked inside. The couple had managed to get a picture of both his mom and dad and hung them over the grave stones. He collapsed on his knees in front of the pictures. He hadn't meant to start talking but he did. He started at his first memory and it all came tumbling out. He told them about living with the Dursleys, his admission to Hogwatrs, the war and his travels. By the time he was finished he realised the light was fading. He picked himself up off the floor and dusted his robes off.

When he stepped out of the tomb he was surprised to find three children playing in the yard with their parents. The kids stopped and looked up at him curiously.

"Welcome back to Godric's Hollow. We were wondering when you would come to see them," the wife admitted.

"Mama who is that?" a young girl with two blonde pigtails asked the witch.

She bent down next to her daughter, "That is an old friend, who graciously sold us this house at a tenth of what this property should have cost."

The girl wrinkled her brow and Harry knew she didn't understand.

"You were in the tomb," the older boy observed.

"Yes," Harry said turning to look back at the tomb, "Thank you for that."

"We wanted to find a way to thank you. The home we have been able to build here means a lot to use. We are very grateful that you sold it to us. My mom always taught me to thank the people in my life that do great things for me. You weren't around and we thought it would be a great way to pay tribute to your family. It was the least we could do," the witch said shrugging.

"It's perfect," Harry admitted. He looked up into the sky and saw the stars coming out. "I should let you get back to what you were doing."

"We were just about to go inside and have dinner would you like to join us?" the wizard asked.

"No thank you. I've disrupted your evening activities enough," Harry said starting to walk to the front of the house.

"Mr. Potter," the wizard called, "You are free to visit them whenever you need to."

"Thanks. I'll keep that in mind," Harry said shoving his hands in pockets.

As he lay in bed that evening, the witch's words reverberated through him. He knew he had a lot to thank his best friends for. In the last seven years he had more than expressed his thanks to Ron for all the times Ron saved his butt. His one regret was that he had yet to thank Hermione.

* * *

In the three months since their return, Ron had been debating what to do with his life. He worked in both of this brother's joke shops and while it had been fun, it was not what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He wanted to find his own path in life. Like Harry, he too found himself at his father's grave but he wasn't alone. Luna was already there laying a wreath of some strange flower over it. She picked up the previous wreath with wilted flowers.

"Can't you charm them to stay fresh?" Ron asked.

Luna turned her clear blue eyes on him before looking back at the grave, "I like the muggle way of honouring the dead."

"Do you come out here often?" Ron asked shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Every week," Luna admitted while she picked at the dead wreath.

Ron wasn't sure what to say next. He knew Luna suffered over the death of his father. "What was his funeral like?"

"I don't know. I never came. I was too distraught over what happened. If you want to know you'll have to ask your mother or brothers. Both Hermione and I stayed away. I think we spent the day in the Manor. I had never been there before but it was strangely comforting. I had been wary of Draco but Hermione seemed to know that he would understand my pain," Luna said sadly.

"Did he?" Ron asked curiously.

"He did," Luna said. "It was how we connected and became friends."

"I thought you and Hermione befriended him at the same time?" Ron stated.

"No Hermione had been his friend for a couple of years before I entered the equation. He offered me a comfort that no one else could. An understanding of what it felt like to be used and to inadvertently set in motion events that killed people."

Ron didn't know what possessed him but he moved forward and placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. She turned her sad gaze away from the grave and looked up at him, a tear trailing down the side of her cheek.

"I don't blame you and you shouldn't blame yourself either. The actions that led to my father's death weren't your actions. They were the actions of a deranged wizard," Ron said bringing his other hand up to brush the tear away from her face.

"But..." Luna protested.

"No stop that, Luna. I travelled with Harry for seven years. In the beginning I watched him beat himself up. Ginny and I tried to help him but in the end the only person that could help Harry was himself. He needed to decide to let it go and live and he did. It was a beautiful moment and that moment has led us here. It's time for you to let it go," Ron said dropping both of his hands to link his hands through hers. "We're all here for you."

Luna broke the hold he had on her hands and hugged him. He felt her tears soaking his undershirt but he didn't care. He let the blonde cry it out.

"I'm sorry I spoilt your time with your dad," she said wiping the tears away from her face.

"You didn't spoil anything. I've been coming here trying to figure out what to do with my life. My brothers are all occupied, jobs, wives, children, mom has moved on with your dad ironically. I can see now that he's been good for her. I understand that he's not a replacement for my dad, just a new companion," Ron explained to her.

"Have you figured out what you want to do yet?" she asked.

Ron shrugged, "I talk to him," he said inclining his head towards his father's grave marker, "He doesn't answer anything I say which I think is a good thing. I mostly explain to him about all the muggle devices he had questions about."

"You know Ron, there's a lot of curiosity about the muggle world. Why don't you harness that? Luna suggested.

"How?" Ron asked.

Luna shrugged, "Muggle adventure tours for wizards?"

Ron smiled at her, "That's a great idea!"

* * *

Ginny finished up the last touches on her article for the _Daily Prophet_ and submitted it to her editor before quickly gathering up her stuff to prepare for the rest of the night. She had been hired a month ago to work as a fashion/style/advice reporter for paper. The editor had liked her proposal to improve the image and popularity of the Prophet, as the paper had lost quite a number of readers over the years. Tonight, Harry would be receiving his formal appointment as an Auror after completing the last three months of training, so not only will she be there as family, she would also be writing about the event.

Besides her professional life, Ginny actively worked on her family life. She started by getting to know her many nieces and nephews. She had to admit she adored every single one and she had already gone on several shopping trips for them. She was sure Nathalie was going to be a heartbreaker much the way her mother was. Even though she was one eight Veela she already had a small following of boys. Her younger brother, Thomas, had his mother's looks as well. Jonathan though was the spitting image of Bill. Gerd and Forge were just as incorrigible as their father's. The babies, Cole and Elliot, weren't as much fun as the older kids. Her favourites were the twins! She loved spending time with Michael and Mikaela and because Charlie and Samantha were always busy, she got to spend a lot of time with them. Her brothers complained that she was spoiling their children but she said it was her privilege as their only Weasley aunt. The family was set to expand too. Both Alicia and Penelope were pregnant. Her mother was buzzing with energy ready to welcome her new grands in a few months.

Living at Malfoy Manor had been nothing like what she had expected. She was actually enjoying it and had been prone to referring to the place as home. Officially, the wizarding world had been told that they were living in an apartment in London. Only family and the Order knew where they really were. Quite a few witches at work had been trying to pry the information from her. Mainly, they were interested in Harry and if he was still single. There were, one or two that did ask about Ron but Ginny shut them all down with style.

Draco wasn't around much, though she had a few embarrassing moments where she saw him half-dressed coming from the pool at the back of the Manor. She had to admit he had the perfect chest but the smirk he threw her when he caught her looking was completely annoying. It wasn't her fault that his chest was on display for all to see. When his girlfriend came over, everyone avoided them as the Order didn't want his current fling to know what was going on in the Manor. From the little glimpses she got of his girlfriend, she concluded that she was a galleon grabbing witch and she was strangely disappointed in Draco's taste. She discovered her mother abhorred the girlfriend and had been itching to teach her a lesson on how a witch should treat her wizard. Natalie was tolerated because of her connections in the underworld and the boost in gave Draco's businesses. The Order had caught on to a few dastardly plots early because of the connection.

Ginny also enjoyed the fact that Luna lived in the Manor with her. Having spent the last seven years with Ron and Harry, it felt nice to have a female housemate. They would sit down at nights after Luna got back from the Quibbler and do their hair or nails or just talk. Hermione would occasionally come over and they would give her a much needed make over. Seamus was out of St. Mungos and Hermione seemed to be on the job 24/7. She pitied poor Seamus and she wondered how he kept up with the witch.

Her relationship with Neville was going fantastic. She didn't think she had ever had such a successful relationship. He just made it easy. She loved surprising him at Hogwarts. There were nights that she had spent out there just talking to him. He respected her opinion on matters and often let her have her way. They had once been caught snogging in a broom closet by the current Headgirl of Hogwarts. The poor girl had fainted on the spot and Ginny had to take her to the hospital wing. Needless to say Professor Flitwick wasn't too happy with his teacher and former student's reckless behaviour.

After the Auror graduation, her next big assignment was The Minister of Magic's annual ball at the Ministry. She couldn't wait to dress up as it had been ages since she had been able to wear formal dress robes. She had been looking forward to this event since her editor handed her the two tickets. Marietta Edgecomb had been very upset that Ginny had gotten the assignment over her. Ginny and been subtly trying to find out who her co-worker's source was but the girl had iron-clad lips which was quite contrary to what the little sneak did in Hogwarts. Maybe Hermione's jinx taught the girl a lesson about keeping secrets a secret.

Ginny took one last look at her desk to make sure everything was in order before she headed out. She would be meeting her mother and family in the Ministry Atrium twenty minutes before the graduation ceremony was to start. Unfortunately, Neville couldn't come as he had a late herbology class to teach to his NEWT students but she was sure she would have a good time anyway.

* * *

**Auror Graduation**

Hermione clapped and hollered loudly as Harry received his official Auror robes. She was seated next to Seamus in the current Aurors section. Despite the fact that she didn't want him to choose this as a career, she couldn't help but beam with pride as the Minister of Magic congratulated him on his appointment.

His first assignment would be security detail at the Minister's annual ball the next day. The new recruits were really needed and there were a lot of requests by senior Aurors to have Harry Potter as their partner. She already had Seamus and she would not drop him in favour of her raven-haired friend. She didn't envy Kingsley with having to make this decision. Whatever he did, he risked upsetting quite a bit of people with the appointment of Harry's partner.

The Minister naturally made a show of posing with Harry for pictures and even tried to get a picture with her, Harry and Ron. She was surprised with how easy her friends accepted the Minister's request and later found out that they had learned a long time ago that no matter where they went, politicians would always be politicians. Harry soon got pulled away for photos with his graduating class and Ron left to attack the buffet.

She decided to make her way around the room to catch up with persons she hadn't seen in a long time. Luna was there representing the Quibbler and was interviewing members of the graduating class. She spotted Draco in the back, his arm around Natalie's waist as they spoke with other prominent members of the business community. Hermione took a minute to study the couple. Natalie's tall lean figure, long flowing blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes were what had originally attracted Draco to her. It was her connections to the wizarding black market and possible link to Primus that kept their relationship going. She had a little spat with Spellfire a few years ago and she didn't feel like repeating that so she made sure she stayed as far away from them as possible.

She had just settled into a conversation with a member of the Wizengamut when Seamus pinched her side and she turned to face him.

"What do you think of that witch over there?" He said pointing to a brunette witch in violet robes.

"Excuse me just one moment sir," she said to the wizard she was talking to before she turned angrily to Seamus, "She's married to the Minister's cousin," she sneered. Did he really interrupt her conversation just for him to get her opinion on witches again?

"Really, why are all the good witches taken?" he whined.

"Luna's available," Hermione chirped turning back with an apologetic smile to the wizard she had been talking to.

"For the last time Hermione, it would never work," Seamus replied. "We are just too different."

Hermione turned to face him, "You could always try my muggle friend?" she suggested.

Seamus glared at her.

"Oh grow up Seamus!" Hermione said turning back to the other wizard who had taken the opportunity to disappear.

When she turned back to Seamus to yell at him for ruining her conversation, he was gone but she spotted Mrs. Weasley gathering her children and grandchildren for a picture. Alarm bells went off in her head. She had done that once before and vowed she would never sit through a Weasley family picture again. It was time to leave if she wanted to avoid getting caught up in that mess.

She ducked behind a tall wizard when Molly looked her way. She caught Draco smirking at her. One day, he would be able to live in the light again and Hermione was going to make sure he experienced a Weasley family picture. Using the wizard as a shield to cover her, she was able to make it out of the room unseen. She knew if she went back to her desk, Molly would send someone there to look for her so she needed to leave the building. The Manor wouldn't be safe so she decided she would pay a visit with Cole and see what he was up to. Perhaps they could go down to that bar close to his office and have a few drinks.

* * *

Harry was stuck between Fred and George while he waited for Luna to find Hermione. Mrs. Weasley insisted that everyone must be in the family picture. After five minutes, Luna returned without Hermione.

"Smart witch!" Fred commented.

"She always gets away from this torture," George commented. "We should learn from her."

"Torture?" Harry questioned.

"It's now beginning young grasshopper," Fred said placing his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Enjoy!" George mocked.

45 minutes later Harry was fed up of being squashed, sat upon and stepped on. He had held so many different positions and been moved around so much he was ready to scream at Molly. The picture was never perfect. Someone was not looking at the camera, someone, namely Fred or George, was making obscene gestures, one of the children wasn't in the right spot, the heights were all wrong, they should line up according to age then they shouldn't. She could not make up her mind and for a picture that moved, Harry didn't see what the problem was because eventually everyone would have looked at the camera at one point. There was hope that the torture was ending soon though because the roast that Mrs. Weasley left cooking for the celebratory dinner would be finished in five minutes and Mrs. Weasley never burnt her food.

By the time they disbursed most of the Aurors and guests had left. Kinglsey however was still there with an envelope in his hand. He called Harry over and handed him the envelope.

"This is your Auror partner. Report for duty 8am tomorrow to discuss the security detail for the Minister. Now get a good night's rest," Kinsley said. "You're going to need it."

In a flash, Kingsley was gone and he was staring at the plain white envelope with his name neatly written on the front of the envelope.

"Think you got Hermione?" Ron asked hopefully appearing at his side.

"I would think by now, you would know Hermione well enough to know she would not leave Seamus hanging," the raven-haired wizard told his best friend.

"Yes but this was not her decision and Kingsley is capable of anything," Ron pointed out.

"There's only one way to know mate," Harry said holding up the white envelope.

"On three," Ron asked.

"Yeah,"

" One,"

" Two,"

" Three,"

Harry stared at the name on the paper and laughed. Ron grabbed the paper from him and quickly read the writing on it.

"Tonks!" Ron said in surprise.

"I guess that rumour about nobody wanting to be her partner was true," Harry replied.

"Ron, Harry, you coming?" Ginny called out from the exit.

"Yeah," Harry called out.

"I sure hope the picture madness does not continue," Ron said. "Mom's ten times worse than she used to be."

"I for one am taking a page out of Hermione's book and using my stealth training to disappear," Harry said.

* * *

Ron stomach growled in protest as he stood in front of the dining table. Everyone had come back to the Burrow to celebrate Harry's graduation with a fancy dinner. The roast, the first thing Ron was going to load his plate with, was in the centre of the table with lots of other dishes around it. He was more than ready to dig in but his mother had declared that they were waiting on Draco and Hermione. In the background his brothers were doing an impression of him at the graduation. The bloody gits had eased dropped when the Minister's niece asked Ron to accompany her to the Minister's Ball tomorrow. Ginny, his little traitor of a sister, was laughing hysterically at the twins' interpretation of Ron accepting the invitation. Even Luna was cracking a smile. Where was the loyalty?

The fire roared to life and Hermione emerged from the flames. She stumbled a bit as she came out of the fire and Harry caught her. Ron noticed a moment pass between them that ended with Harry frowning.

"Finally!" Charlie declared.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him, "I'm not that late. I'm sure Molly just finished putting the last dish on the table." She made her way over to greet everyone and Ron noticed that Luna frowned as soon as Hermione moved on to someone else.

"She did that two minutes ago," Fred stated.

"That's two minutes of eating you've taken from us," George complained.

The fire roared to life again and Draco emerged from the fire.

"Let's eat!" Ron stated.

"Alright," Molly said, "Everyone to the table!"

Ron of course didn't have far to go and sat down in the middle of the table closest to the roast until a throat cleared behind him. Ron ignored it and started reaching for the roast when his mother slapped his hand away.

"Ow," Ron groaned pulling his hand back.

"The guest of honour gets the first cut of the roast," Molly instructed. "And you're in the wrong seat."

"What?" Ron asked stupefied.

"That's my seat," Penelope said. "There's an order to how we sit. You're down there with Harry and Draco."

"I have to sit next to Draco?" Ron stated horrified.

"I know, poor Draco," Penelope teased. "Now get up. My baby's hungry," she said rubbing her growing tummy. When Ron didn't move quickly enough, Penelope stated tapping her wand over his head.

Ron held his hands up to protect himself, "Ok, ok, I'm moving."

He grudgingly sat between Harry and a smirking Draco. Mrs. Weasley started serving the roast, the first slice going to Harry while the rest of the girls started passing around the side dishes and filling their husband and their plates. The kids had been fed earlier and put to bed.

"It's not that funny," Ron spat at Draco.

"Actually it kind of was," Hermione butted in. She was sitting on the other side of Draco. Luna was on the other side of Harry with Ginny next to her.

Ron saw Draco's lips move but he didn't hear what he said. All he knew was that Hermione's face turned red with anger and she dragged him away from the table.

"Go Draco!" Bill said proudly.

Arianne frowned, "I'm kind of on Hermione's side."

"Yeah, me too," Katie said.

"Go Hermione," Samantha toasted to which the other ladies around the table except Luna and Ginny followed.

"I'm lost," Ron admitted.

"Dearest little brother," Fred said.

"You are always lost," George finished.

"You obviously didn't notice the hickey on Hermione's neck," Charles said.

"The two hickeys!" Fred and George chorused at the same time. Ron noticed Charles seemed to recoil at the news.

"She was trying to hide it though. She pulled the collar of her robes up high," Bill added.

"She would have been better off using a concealment charm," Arianne pointed out.

"Kind of hard to do magic when you've been drinking," Harry commented but Ron recognised the sharp edge to his voice.

"Ok Mr. Auror," Alicia sat forward with a challenging looks. "If you noticed all of that, then who gave Hermione the hickeys."

Ron looked between Harry and Alicia. A smug look settled onto Harry's face before he answered, "Cole."

Ron furrowed his brows. Who the hell was Cole?

The twins whistled and the girls looked shocked.

"You're going to make an excellent Auror Harry. How did you figure it out?" Bill asked.

"The cologne," Luna said knowingly.

Harry nodded.

"Ok can someone please explain what's going on?" Ron asked.

Molly took pity on her youngest son and decided to explain to him, "Draco thinks Cole is a crooked agent but Hermione doesn't."

"Cole's crooked!" Harry said sitting up straight.

"That certainly peeked your interest," Bill commented.

"If he's crooked then that means the entire muggle/wizard operation is compromised," Harry said seriously.

"That's what Draco's been arguing but he has no proof and Hermione won't do anything without solid proof," Percy said speaking for the first time.

"Then we'll get some proof," Harry said.

"You agree with Draco?" Sol asked curiously.

"I know Draco's had her back for the last six years. Who better to smell a rat than a Malfoy," Harry said.

Ron chuckled, "He would certainly know how to recognise his own species."

When everyone around the table glared at him, Ron sank lower into his chair. He was saved the lecture by the return of Hermione and Draco. Whatever their disagreement had been it appeared that they had come to some sort of resolution between them because there was zero sign of tension there. If only he had known how to do that when they were dating!

* * *

**Minister's Ball**

The grand ballroom of the Ministry was beautifully decorated with floating white candles and white and black streamers soaring through the air that occasionally intertwined with each other. A huge crystal chandelier the size of a small cottage hung from the centre of the high ceiling filtering the light into beautiful little rainbows throughout the rectangular room. A small square dance floor was located in the middle under the chandelier. There were dozens of small round tables around the dance floor that were being used to rest glasses and plates full of appetizers. Against one of the long walls was a buffet and against the opposite one was a display of all the good work the Minister had accomplished over the last year. The end of the room that was opposite the entrance, displayed an elaborate fountain made of many basins at different elevations that had water jumping from one basin to another. The jumping water would change colour and shape periodically.

Any person that considered themselves important found a way to attend this event. Of course invitations were not easy to come by so very innovative methods were used to gain invitations. The actual invitations themselves were made by the Ministry's strongest wizards and witches and had various levels of spell and copy protection on them. It was also rumoured that the unspeakables also used new magic on the invites to ensure there were no crashers. St. Mungos hated this time of year because the emergency department was filled with wizards that had serious injuries from trying to duplicate the spells to create their own invitation.

There was a list of standard names that were invited every year such as the heads of various departments in the Ministry, headmaster of Hogwarts, members of the Wizengamot, important magical families such as the Malfoy's and one reporter from each of the media houses. The Minister was also allowed a personal list of invitees. This list usually consisted of outstanding wizard and witches from the previous year as well as his family. The year England won the Quidditch World Cup, the Minister invited the entire team to the event.

This year was not any different to the previous years. There were a few new faces that had made headlines during the year but other than that it was the same. Just below the Minister's grand display of his work, Ginny was blushing furiously as her mother talked with Neville about marriage and more grandchildren. Ginny had bought Neville as her guest and her mother had come with Sol, as his guest since the Quibbler was now a recognised newspaper. Ginny had just about had enough of her mother's rant though.

"Mother! Nev and I just started dating. Please don't marry us off yet! Besides, I think you have enough grandchildren to last you a little while," the youngest Weasley protested to her mother.

"Don't be preposterous Ginny! When you're a grandmother you will understand. You can never have enough grandchildren," Molly Weasley retorted.

Ginny spied Sol heading towards them and she gave him a pleading look.

"Molly, Ruby Bullstrode thinks her grandchildren are going to be excellent wizards and that Rufus will fly away leaving Danny and Edward in his wake," he said with a wink directed at Ginny. As predicted Molly immediately sought out Ruby in the ballroom to let her know that her grandchildren were going to be very skilled wizards as well.

"Thank you so much," Ginny said grateful for the reprieve she had gotten.

"It's fine. Just have fun tonight," he told them as he left in the direction Molly had gone.

Ginny turned to Neville to apologise about her mother but Neville insisted that it was fine and that his grandmother behaved in a similar way. It only proved how much Molly liked him and he was happy that he was being accepted into the family. He had been most hesitant about Ron's reaction and even Harry's considering Ginny's history with him but they seemed to have accepted him and Neville was hoping to take his relationship with Ginny to the next level. He slipped his hand around her waist and pulled her into his arms.

"Let's dance," he whispered in her ear causing a shiver to go down her back.

Not trusting her voice Ginny nodded and let him lead her off to wherever it was he wanted to go.

Not all persons were there to enjoy themselves though. Hermione walked slowly around the ball looking for anything out of place. Most of the Aurors were there with a few on duty in the office in case something happened elsewhere. She was not surprised to find Ron camped out by the buffet table, at least it was the safest place in the room. She knew Tonks was around somewhere and Harry was surrounded by witches requesting his personal protection. Hermione decided that it was time to move Harry to a position outside, where it would, more than likely, be safer for him and he could also do his job without being harassed. As she moved through the crowd, she overheard a snippet of conversation that caused her to stop.

"Your plan worked! And here you were worried you would not become the next Mrs. Malfoy," a red head witch said. Hermione recognised her as Harriet Breakwater, first cousin to Natalie.

"How did you get passed the contraceptive potion?" a brunette asked curiously. That was Nora Tellier, a French witch that was married to an English Wizard.

"Oh it was difficult. I had to slowly sneak small samples of the potion out every night and I had to pay quite a bit to get it analyzed properly to find a counter potion. I even had some herbs added that would boost fertility to ensure my success," Natalie Spellfire boasted to her friends.

"How far along are you?" Harriet asked.

"Almost three months, I wanted to wait for the first trimester to finish before I made the usual announcements," Natalie said proudly. "I'm thinking a full page spread in the _Daily Prophet_ should work. Perhaps I'll even invite that Ginny Weasley to come and interview me. Rub it in their poor faces," she declared cackling loudly at the end.

"How did Draco take it?" Nora asked curiously.

"I haven't told him yet," Natalie admitted a bit hesitantly.

"You haven't told him yet!?" both of the witches gossiping with her said at the same time.

"Tonight, I'll tell him and by tomorrow my new contact address will be Malfoy Manor," she boasted.

Hermione had drawn her wand ready to hex the witch into the next century for the pain she was about to cause Draco but the room broke out in screams as the expensive chandelier came crashing into the middle of the dance floor. Hermione was barely able to put a blocking shield around her to prevent the flying crystals and pieces of the chandelier from hitting her.

A quick survey of the room revealed hooded figures emerging from the charmed fountains on the opposite end. The guests on that side of the room were already unconscious on the floor. Different colour spells were flying between the intruders and the Aurors and Hermione found it difficult to ignore the cries for help from the wizards caught under the chandelier as she made her way towards the Minister's bodyguards. The priority would be to evacuate the Minister, then secure the site, then helped the injured.

As Hermione tried to make it to the Minsiter she realised that the room was not emptying out fast enough. Turning to the entrance she was a rather large piece of the chandelier blocking the exit. Hermione had no clue how it got there but it needed to be moved immediately. A red spell flew past her and she was forced to refocus on the intruders. The Minister's bodyguards were holding off five hooded figures, who were using guests as shields, to advance safely towards the buffet. The buffet tables had been charmed to absorb spells and protect anyone that hid behind it. It was one of the safety measures that the Aurors put in place in case something like this happened. The bodyguards had obviously implemented the plan to fall back to that area with the Minister in case they were locked in the room.

Hermione ducked behind the main body of the chandelier as a stunner came flying past her. It was difficult to reach to the Minister and with the guests being used as shields, it was difficult to neutralise the threat. She soon felt a presence to her right and caught sight of a mop of messy raven hair and a pair of concerned emerald eyes giving her a quick look over for injuries. She couldn't explain it but her body felt completely safe knowing he was next to her and despite the chaos all around them, she knew she would be alright. This was a feeling she hadn't experienced since Hogwarts.

The wall behind the Minister started to rumble and Hermione immediately realised what was going to happen. They knew the plan was to fall back to the buffet table and they were going to take the Minister from behind the table.

She turned quickly to Harry, "Clear the entrance. I'll work with the Aurors to get the Minister out now."

Harry nodded and he headed towards the door where there was a thick crowd of panicked wizards. Hermione started firing spells at the intruder when she noticed Ron cowering behind the table with his date.

"Ron, grab the Minister and move! We'll cover you," she shouted.

Without thinking twice Ron grabbed one of the Minister's hand and started heading for the door. Harry had been unable to get the chandelier to move and had resorted to blasting two holes on either side of the entranceway to get everyone out. The Aurors tried to form a defensive line to keep the intruders on the opposite side of the room to allow the Minister and all of the guests to escape. Hermione levitated one of the buffet tables and placed it across the room to provide protection for their line. Once The Minister was out the door, the hooded figures retreated to the same fountains that they had emerged from. The wall behind the buffet tables collapsed but whoever was there was gone.

Kinglsey immediately took control of the situation and started delivering orders. One team was assigned to secure the fountains and take them for examination. Another team was ordered to investigate the destroyed wall. Tonks was assigned to get assistance from St. Mungos, Harry was told to get rid of the chandelier in the middle of the room and Hermione, with her extensive knowledge of healing spells had to deal with the injured immediately.

Harry glanced at Hermione with a questioning look, which she immediately understood, 'how do I get rid of this thing?'.

"Harry, levitate it, shrink it and put it with the fountains to be examined," Hermione said as she rushed off towards the unconscious guests by the fountains while Harry shrunk the chandelier.

Once the chandelier was dealt with Harry started helping the wizards trapped underneath it. He recognised Draco's platinum blonde hair first. His foot had been caught under the chandelier and his ankle appeared to be broken. Their eyes locked and images of Hermione, Molly, Sol and Ginny flooded his mind. Harry had been totally unprepared for the legilimens spell and hadn't realised that Draco even knew how to cast it. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised that Draco knew the spell but casting it wordlessly and subtly was definitely a shock. Harry did not make any attempt to use Occlumency to block him because he understood what he was asking. Harry immediately pulled up the memory of Hermione telling him what to do with the chandelier but he realised he had no clue where Ginny, Molly and Sol were and he tried to think of a big question mark in his head. Draco seemed to have understood and started searching the room. A slender witch pushed Harry aside and headed straight to Draco.

"Draco, sweety are you ok?"

"I'm fine Natalie. Let's leave these bumbling idiots to clean things up," he said as he tried to stand and pretended to be uninterested in the whole situation but his calculating eyes never stopped searching the room. Draco leaned on her and started hopping out but stopped in front of Harry.

"You tell that idiot boss of yours that he'll have to pay to fix my foot," he held his nose up in the air and continued on his way but was stopped by another Auror trying to question him about the incident. He couldn't help but smile when he heard Draco tell off the poor Auror. No one could ever guess that he worked for the order.

Harry continued helping the injured as there had been quite a few persons dancing and the amount injured was piling up. Many medics had arrived and Hermione summarised all that had happened. Wizards were being levitated to apparition points outside, so the room was slowly being cleared of the injured. In the centre of the room only a few unconscious persons remained as Medics franticly worked to heal everyone.

Harry recognised two of the unconscious figures on the floor as Neville and Ginny. Neville was turned face down covering most of Ginny, as it appeared he tried to shelter her with his body. He called out to Hermione who was trying to calm a frantic Mrs. Weasley. Molly shouted for her baby and came storming over. Hermione was barely able to stop Molly from pulling Ginny to her, in case she injured Ginny further. She shouted for some of the medics to come and help. With Molly restrained, Hermione gently reached her hand under Neville's neck to check for a pulse. Her face went white and she looked up at Harry with sad eyes.

"He's dead."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Happy New Year!


	15. The Funeral

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

"He's dead."

Hermione's voice seemed to echo around the room. Molly panicked and pushed even harder against Harry to get to her daughter. If Neville was dead did that mean that her daughter was gone as well? She needed to know if she was ok. A panic started building deep within her and all she could think about was getting to Ginny. The harder she tried to push Harry, the harder he pushed back. She couldn't understand why he would keep her from her daughter.

The medics soon arrived and examined Neville reaching the same conclusion as Hermione. They then carefully rolled Neville off of Ginny, as they had to ensure that moving him would not cause further injury to the witch below him. Another medic removed his body so that the others had space to begin working on the redhead.

"She's alive!" the medic said and the tense atmosphere seemed to lift just a little.

"My baby!" Molly cried in relief as she stopped struggling and let her full weight rest on Harry who was caught off guard by the quick change in her behaviour.

"She is unconscious and could have severe head injuries as well as some internal trauma. We're taking her to St. Mungo's," a medic informed them.

Molly quickly followed behind the medics and disappeared through the debris into the atrium.

Harry wanted to follow her but he knew he had a job to do. This would be his first crime scene as an Auror. All of the injured had been removed and all that remained were shattered tables, debris from the walls and crystals from the once magnificent chandelier. Where would they even start in this mess?

"Auror Potter," a small voice asked from behind him.

He turned around to find a witch in scarlet robes, a fellow auror. She must have been in her early forties as her hair was greying slightly and there were a few wrinkles on her face. He racked his brain to remember her name. She was in charge of the magic detection department. They operated a bit like forensic investigators in the muggle world.

"I need to take your statement about what happened now, while it's still fresh in your mind. Everything you observed would be helpful. I need you to start from the moment you were assigned this mission," she said.

"Why …" Harry opened his mouth to voice his opinion but the witch cut him off with a sigh.

"Auror Potter, this is obviously an inside job. In order to compile a full picture of the crime, I need to start from the moment this ball was conceptualised. Somewhere along the way, those fountains were included into the floo system and the sooner I can identify that moment, the sooner I can start to identify the leak. My staff and I need to interview over 100 persons involved. In the interest of time, it would be best if we do this now. Aurors can be quite difficult to track down during the day," the witch insisted.

Harry nodded and started recounting his day from the beginning. He glanced at Hermione and noticed she was talking to another Auror as well. While he was answering questions, he noticed that all of the evidence was examined, labelled and spelled to go to the evidence lock up room down below the Ministry. Hermione finished before him and she waited just out of ear shot for him. As soon as he finished up he went to her.

"You ok?" Harry asked concerned.

"Yeah, but Seamus was injured again. Honestly, I don't know how my partner keeps getting injured. He's at St. Mungos," Hermione revealed. "I think the nurses are on the verge of naming the room Seamus's room permanently."

"Granger get some rest!" Kingsley ordered coming over to both of them.

The witch opened her mouth to protest but he stopped her. "Potter, I'm ordering you to make sure she gets some sleep," Kingsley said to him.

When Harry gave him a very apprehensive look, because really, who could make Hermione do something she did not want to do, Kinglsey added, "Even if you have to tie her to you, you make sure she rests."

"But…" the witch started again.

"No buts. You know Auror Mayweather is investigating. There is nothing you can do right now. We did not apprehend anyone to question and we have no leads at the moment. The best strategic move is for you to get rest and you know it," Kingsley explained.

Hermione's shoulders slumped and she dropped her gaze to the floor. She had lost that argument. "Come on Harry. Let's get going."

Harry nodded and followed Hermione out into the atrium.

"Where are we headed to?" Harry asked knowing Hermione was not ready to rest yet.

"St. Mungo's of course," was her quick reply before she disappeared.

* * *

Luna was enjoying a late night snack in the kitchen. She had the entire manor to herself as everyone had gone to the Ball. Since her friends' return from their travels it was rare to be completely alone in the Manor. She used to enjoy the time to herself when Draco and Hermione weren't around but now it felt a bit weird. She was feeling different.

Since Nicholas took advantage of her, she hadn't enjoyed the company of many people. She stuck mainly to Draco, Hermione, and Neville, and occasionally interviewing someone for The Quibbler. The solitude was her friend. It was her way of atoning for what she had done. Her friends' return had interfered with that. With them living at the Manor, members of the Order were coming and going more frequently to see them. She got drawn into more and more social interactions and she found herself actually enjoying it.

She had gone out with Ginny and Neville three days ago and she really enjoyed herself. Ginny encouraged her to flirt with a few wizards and the experience went well. The world didn't end and she didn't end up in tears. The silence felt a bit strange. She found herself longing for her friends particularly Ron but he had a date to the Ball. She hadn't heard the full story about the date but she knew it involved Ron accidentally embarrassing himself at the shop in front of his date. The twins claim the witch took pity on him and asked him out but Luna knew better. She asked him out because she could see what a good guy Ron was.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of her father. Being the lovely daughter that she was, she stood and kissed him on the cheek.

"Would you like something to eat as well?" She offered kindly.

"I'm sorry Luna but I can't stay long. I just came to give you the news," he said solemnly.

Luna's happiness evaporated immediately at her father's tone. She knew that tone well, the tone of death. The tone her father had used countless of times when he informed her that they had lost someone in the order.

"Who?" was all she could ask. His eyes softened as he looked at his daughter.

"Neville," he said sadly.

Luna's hand shot out to steady herself against the chair as her whole world started to spin before her. Neville, her father had just said Neville. No, that was not possible. Neville was at the ball. He was safe at the ball. He was with Ginny and Harry and Ron and Hermione, how could something have happened. Her father could see her confusion and he started to explain about the attack.

Tears sprang to her eyes as he recounted what he had heard from Harry.

"I should go to St. Mungos," Luna said hastily as she tried to walk past her father to get to the fireplace.

Her father stopped her and drew her into a hug. "No, it's too crowded. There are many injured and twice as many family members waiting for news on loved ones. You probably couldn't get in even if you used Harry's cloak."

Two other bodies joined the hug and Luna looked up to see Harry and Hermione. When would the time come that she they would not need to mourn the tragic loss of loved ones?

* * *

The next morning the atmosphere in the kitchen was quiet and depressing. By now, everyone had heard what had happened. Ginny was still resting in the hospital and had yet to wake up. The doctors said she was out of danger and her family was thankful for that but at the same time they dreaded telling her what had happened to Neville. They had agreed that Bill would break the news to her with Molly there to support her.

Ron had just arrived in the kitchen from the hospital and his stomach was growling for food but he just didn't feel like eating. He felt guilty to be enjoying a meal at a time like this and he just paced around the kitchen while Luna and Harry watched him.

All of a sudden Draco's voice drifted down the corridor and the three of them looked curiously at the door. Was he shouting? Suddenly the door swung violently open and Draco came barreling into the kitchen with Hermione trailing behind him.

"I'm going to kill her! Dobby bring me the best poison we have. It needs to be untraceable," Draco barked, his face the reddest anyone had ever seen.

"Draco, calm down," Hermione pleaded.

"Calm down, is that all you can say. You were the one that guaranteed that this wouldn't happen. You told me it was impossible," he screamed at her frantically.

"Draco I…" she tried to respond.

"What you're sorry, sorry does not cut it. The only way to fix this is to kill her," the last remaining Malfoy insisted.

"Draco, be reasonable," the brunette pleaded with her friend.

"This is reasonable. I could always torture her then kill her," the platinum haired wizard pointed out.

He paced the floor like a caged animal while he waited for Dobby, who hesitantly went to fetch the poison.

"I should have asked Snape instead of you!" he screamed at Hermione who flinched at his mention of Snape.

"Well if you feel Snape is so reliable, why don't you go to him for a poison!" She shouted back without thinking.

"Maybe I will," he said before he stormed out of the room.

Hermione dropped into the chair completely deflated.

"What was that about?" Harry asked.

"Natalie's pregnant," Hermione said sadly.

"Oh no," Luna gasped. "Bad things really do happen in threes!"

"It's a good thing I found out before he did or I would be taking him to Azkaban again," Hermione commented.

"How did you find out?" Luna asked.

"Overheard her talking last night. I'm thankful she hasn't told him yet. If he had cracked like that with her it would have been a complete disaster."

"What's the big deal, so he knocked some witch up? He's a Malfoy. When has family meant anything to him? He's always been so selfish. He is more concerned with himself than what's going on around him," Ron commented angrily.

"I suppose the Malfoy family pride is on the line," Harry said. "He would be the first one in recorded history to have a child outside of wedlock."

Hermione shook her head, "That's not it. He doesn't care about that. It's complicated."

"Ron, he's not as selfish as you think. After all, you are living in _his_ house," Luna pointed out before dropping her head into her hands, "Why does it feel like everything is falling apart?" Luna cried.

In a very surprising moment, Ron pried Luna's hands away from her face and held them securely in his, "Everything will be fine. I promise you that, I, Ron Billius Weasley will ensure that everything will be fine."

That was the first time, Luna had smiled since the news of Neville's death.

* * *

Draco emerged from the fireplace in Snape's living quarters at Hogwarts to find that he was interrupting an intimate moment between his mentor and his wife on the sofa.

Victoria eyes snapped to the dust covered Draco. "This had better be life or death," she threatened as the witch removed herself from her husband, grabbed her wand off the side table next to the sofa and summoned a robe from the bedroom to cover herself. Draco ignored her as he brushed the soot off of his robe.

"Don't you ever clean your fireplace?" Draco snapped back at her.

The witch glared at him. "What is it this time? You do know that Snape and I have a life."

"I would like to talk to him in private. This is none of your business," Draco hissed completely unperturbed by the state in which he had found them.

Victoria raised her wand to hex him but Snape grabbed his wife's hand.

"Let me handle this. Why don't you wait for me in the bedroom," he said smoothly.

"Fine, but I'm not doing this for you," she said pointing at Draco. "I'm doing this because your father would want me to."

Draco watched her walk away and then turned his attention to Snape. "She still has that ridiculous crush on my father?"

"Don't mess with me Draco. What do you want?" Snape asked seriously.

"A batch of your strongest poison that can't be detected after death," Draco declared.

Snape eyed the young wizard before him.

"In all the years that I taught you, did you learn nothing?" he asked in a disappointed tone.

"Just give it to me old man," Draco snapped.

"Don't get rude with me, I can hex you back into the previous century," Snape retorted angrily.

"Just try, I've been practicing," Draco spoke up bravely.

Faster than Draco could blink Snape had him disarmed and hanging upside down in the air. Snape sat down on the sofa and lowered Draco to eye level in front of him.

"Now that we are all settled, do you care to enlighten me what this is about?" he asked.

Draco crossed his arms on his chest stubbornly. "I need a poison."

"Yes, I heard you the first time. Since you seem to be a bit slow today, why do you need the poison?" Snape asked.

"I want to poison someone," Draco replied sullenly.

"Are you trying to make me mad enough to kill you?" Snape threatened.

Draco sighed, "Hermione failed. Natalie's pregnant."

"Oh, that's all. I thought it was something more serious than that," Snape commented bored.

"That's all, that's all you can say. This is serious. She's pregnant, do you not understand, pregnant, as in going to have my child," Draco responded angrily.

"I am well aware of what pregnant means. Victoria and I have been trying to have a child for a while now. This is something good Draco. You can continue the Malfoy line. Granted your child's mother isn't the best pick but your father would be satisfied that she's a pure blood," Snape reasoned.

Draco glowered at the reminder of what his father would have wanted. The blood was rushing down to his face so it was hard to tell if it was red from anger or the blood.

"I think I will leave you here for a while to ponder what it means to be a father and the happiness you might find in taking care of a child," Snape said as he abruptly turned and headed to his bedroom door.

Snape paused at the doorway and then turned around. He transfigured his table into a long rope and levitated it up to Draco's feet. He then tied one end of the rope around Draco's feet and the other to ceiling.

"Just in case I can't maintain you in the air while I'm busy with Victoria. Oh and bring me a sample of the potion you were using. I'll figure out how this happened," Snape said before turning around to attend to his wife's needs.

* * *

Three days had passed since the incident at the Ministry. Ginny had woken up and had not talked to anyone since Bill had delivered the bad news about Neville. The Prophet had given her time off and she shut herself away in her room. Only Dobby had seen her when he took food to her room. She emerged today to go to Neville's funeral. She knew she had to at least say goodbye. She had truly loved him and hoped that he would be the one that she would settle down with and have lots of children like her mother but that hope had been bitterly crushed.

She made her way straight to the floo chamber and ignored the concerned looks from her family. She would be meeting everyone in Flitwick's office before heading to the Great Hall for the ceremony. As she dusted the soot off of her in the office, she was thankful that she had arrived before her mother. As much as she loved Molly, she didn't want to be smothered today. She was sick and tired of people trying to ask her if she was ok. Of course she wasn't ok. Neville had just died, did they really expect her to just pick up and move on so quickly. She glanced at the portraits on the wall and found that most of the previous headmasters were gone. She exited the office and made her way to the Great Hall. Her family should be able to find their way without her.

As Ginny walked through the hallways she realised that a part of her missed her days at Hogwarts, well at least the days that weren't consumed with Voldemort. She had a few friends in her year group and they used to sit in the common room and talk. She missed that. Maybe it was time to reconnect with some of her old friends and develop a life that didn't revolve around Harry, The Order and death. She had travelled the world and death still seemed to follow them. Maybe death could spare her from this pain and misery.

* * *

**The Great Hall**

All the students were gathered in the hall to pay tribute to Neville Longbottom, beloved Herbology Professor at Hogwarts and Head of Gryffindor House. A beautiful picture of Neville in the greenhouse with his students stood on stage behind the teacher's table. Neville moved about in the picture with a large smile on his face as he taught his students about different plants.

It was a long ceremony. Prof. Flitwick was the first up to pay tribute to Neville. He gave a touching homage to his Herbology Professor, recounting fond memories while Neville was both a student and Professor at Hogwarts. Several other teachers followed Flitwick including both Grawp and Oliver Wood. A few of his outstanding students made short contributions, thanking Professor Longbottom for encouraging their love of Herbology and teaching them everything they knew about plants. Harry made a speech as well as a few of the Weasleys. Ginny chose to remain silent.

After the tribute, the cremation was held on the grounds. The Eulogy given by his grandmother, had everyone in tears. She had outlived all of her family and had nothing left. She mentioned to Remus that she would leave all of her belongings to The Order when it was her time to go because she knew that was what Neville would have wanted.

* * *

After the ceremony, Hermione spotted Snape talking with the new Ancient Runes teacher, Professor Adderwort and she decided it would be an excellent time to address a matter with Snape that had been troubling her.

"Can I talk with you a moment Professor?" she asked politely.

"Ah, Ms. Granger, I haven't seen you in some time," Snape sneered at her.

Hermione resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Snape's act, "Please Professor, it would only take a moment and its Auror Granger now."

"Excuse me, Lystra." Snape said to his companion. "Let's go to my office, that is, if you remember where it is **Auror** Granger."

Hermione followed Snape through the familiar halls of Hogwarts until she reached his office. They entered quickly and Snape casted a spell on the door to prevent ease dropping. Hermione burst out laughing as soon as she knew no one could hear her. Snape gave her a piercing look.

"Now is not the time to find this funny," the greasy haired wizard reprimanded her and she instantly sobered. "What is this about? It couldn't possibly have to do with the attack at the Ministry," he commented.

"No it doesn't. I assume you've heard about Draco," she said a bit hesitantly.

"Yes I did. He came to see me," Snape admitted. "He wanted a poison but fortunately I was able to rid him of that ridiculous notion."

Hermione nodded and handed him a piece of paper to review.

Snape looked over the list she presented him with. "This is quite a complex potion. Do you need help making it?" Snape asked to which he received a glare from the brunette witch.

"That is the potion that Draco was using to prevent Natalie from conceiving. I used a more complex potion because I wanted to avoid something like this happening. Not any potion maker could have deciphered those ingredients and found a way to counteract it."

"Impressive, I see you were actually paying attention in my classes. I had feared that Potter and Weasley might have been a big distraction for you. There are two or three wizards that I know that are capable of this," Snape said

"Who?" Hermione asked.

Snape levelled his gaze at her and appeared to be contemplating his words carefully.

"Let me handle this for you. It would be easier for me to find out. The pureblood community is aware that Narcissa had asked me to look after her son, so it would not be a surprise if I look for the potion master myself. After all, it would be assumed that I was the one that made this potion," Snape stated logically.

Hermione opened her mouth to protest but Snape cut her off. "You should focus all your energies on the Ministry attack. That is the priority here."

Hermione conceded that he was in fact correct and turned to leave the office. As she opened the door, she commented loudly for any passersby to hear. "Thank you Professor for your unhelpful words," before she slammed the door and stalked off.

Her mind was full of thoughts and she let her feet lead the way. Eventually she found herself standing in front of the area that lead to the Room of Requirement. Flashes of her dream ran through her mind. She was soon snapped out of staring by Nearly Headless Nick who had been sent to find her by Harry. She had completely forgotten that there was a meeting of The Order that night and they needed to get back to the Manor to prepare.

* * *

**The Order of the Phoenix**

Molly called the meeting to order. It would be the first time that Harry and Ron would be attending a meeting since they took the vow to officially join. There were a lot more members here this time and Harry was mildly surprised to see a few more Slytherins.

"I would like every member to give one minute of silence in honour of a fallen comrade Neville Longbottom," Molly announced.

The silence was unsettling for Harry and he wondered how many times the order had done this before. He noticed a few Aurors were there and he was glad that he could trust so many of his colleagues. The attack on the ball had shaken many people's trust in Ministry officials as Mariette Edgecomb had plastered the front of the Daily Prophet with the brazen headline, _Who Can You Trust? Attack on Minister of Magic Inside Job_.

"On to business, I believe Auror Mayweather is up first," Molly announced

"Yes, thank you Molly. My department has discovered that the secretary to the Minister, Ms. Astoria Greengrass, sent a requisition to the magical procurement unit for magical fountains for the ball. Mr. Sparklewire at that division sent a memo back to Ms. Greengrass informing her that there were no distributors for the type of fountain that she required but that they could source a muggle fountain and charm it. Ms. Greenwater apparently agreed to that," Auror Mayweather said pausing for a sip of water before continuing on.

"Mr. Sparklewire proceeded to source the fountains from a muggle decorating store. The fountains were procured the day of the ball and charmed in the ballroom before the event started. We have interviewed the wizards that charmed the fountains and at this point, we have no reason to hold them. No other wizard or with was witnessed performing any sort of magic on the fountains. We have therefore concluded that the fountains came already connected to the floo system. I pass things on to Auror Granger now."

"After Auror Mayweather discovered this information she brought it to me. Harry and I decided to pay the store a little visit as an engaged couple looking for decorations for our wedding. The store clerk recognised Harry and made a run for it. We were able to apprehend him. Auror Bullstrode was assigned to interrogate him while Harry and I investigated the store further. We discovered that the store had recently been purchased by one of Primus's holding companies in the muggle world. Harry was able to get a list of the businesses owned under the holding company and we are currently investigating each one. We have informed our muggle counterparts of several businesses that are distributing drugs and weapons."

Milicent Bullstrode stood at this point and started reporting on the interrogation. "The suspect refused to talk at first but after a few hours at Azkaban he was more than ready to talk. He claimed he needed a job and a wizard offered him the job as a clerk in the muggle store. He had been working at that store for a year and he said that many charmed objects have been sold from the store to muggles. I believe Aurors Granger and Potter have a list of the clients that patronised the store. He was able to give us a description of the wizard that hired him. He knew him only as Magnus and he was the only wizard he dealt with."

"Thank you for your report Aurors. I want all members to be on the lookout for suspicious activity and I want everyone to check their houses for items that might have listening charms on them. Percy as assistant to the Minister can you look into Ms. Greengrass?" Molly asked

"I know her well, never thought she was involved in anything," Percy responded.

"Be careful Percy. The Minister was most likely the target of the last attack. Even though the Aurors are providing more protection to the Minister, keep your eyes open," Bill advised his younger brother.

"Since there is no other business to discuss, the meeting is adjourned. As usual Draco has generously provided some refreshments, please help yourself," Molly announced.

Seamus made a beeline for Hermione, "Mione, I am so hurt! I'm injured for a short time and you go and get engaged to my replacement!" She responded with a strong punch to his upper arm. "Bloody hell Hermione that hurt."

"You know George," Fred said coming up behind the two, "Whenever she responds with violence, we are usually right?" George agreed enthusiastically.

"So what's it like snogging The Great Harry Potter then?" Tonks teased as well.

Hermione glared at everyone, "I should have kept my big mouth shut."

"Oh come on Mione," Harry said as he slung his arm around her shoulders. "It's not that bad. I rather enjoy our time in the closet at headquarters."

"Not you too Harry!" Hermione said trying to hide her blush by burying her face in her hands.

"As long as you two stick to the closet you should be safe, I definitely don't recommend Kingsley's desk," Ron said waggling his eyebrows at his two best friends.

"RON!" Hermione shouted utterly horrified by his suggestion.

"That's not a bad idea!" Harry said rubbing his chin as though he were deep in thought. A sharp elbow from Hermione quickly stopped his mocking.

Hermione wanting to change the topic decided to ask the twins about Ginny. That seemed to sober everyone up and remove the attention from her. Maybe her face could stop glowing red now.

Soon the refreshments were finished and members started to leave. Hermione decided to spend the night at the manor and she vehemently insisted to Ron, it was not to snog with Harry. In truth Hermione was staying to try and talk to Draco, he was avoiding her and she was hoping she could speak some sense into him. She watched Luna leave the room and knew she was going to try and approach Ginny who had not attended the meeting.

* * *

The next morning, Molly sat at the kitchen table looking at the sullen wizard in front of her. He was sitting with his hands crossed in front of his chest and a defiant look on his face. None of her children would dare show her this disrespect but this boy had not been raised like her sons.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy," Molly stated sternly.

"Mother, don't bother, he isn't worth your time," Ginny spat as she came through the door to the kitchen.

Both gave a surprised look at her sudden appearance. Before her mother could start up with her questions, Ginny stopped her.

"Mother I am fine. Neville died a week ago and I have stayed in this manor long enough. I'm ready to go to work and I'm ready to move out."

"Oh, do you want to move in with me and Sol?" Molly asked hopefully.

"No mother, I want some space to myself," Ginny replied. She needed to have a life outside of her family.

"But Ginny dear, I don't think that's the best thing for you right now. You need to be around family. Perhaps with Bill or with Charlie then?" Molly prodded further.

"The last thing I need right now is family. Every time I see one of you I'm reminded of everything Neville and I could have had but now will never have. I want the pain to go away. I need to heal and I don't think I can do that with you or my brothers around," Ginny explained sadly.

Molly wanted to protest, to tell her daughter that it was family that helped her survive when Arthur passed but Draco cut in.

"The apartment next to Natalie's is vacant and Natalie is looking for someone to occupy it. Despite the Weasley's low status among the pureblood families, she will let the landlord rent it to you since only half bloods have shown an interest in it thus far," Draco told her.

Molly disapproved of the idea right away and that was exactly why Ginny agreed to it.

* * *

Three cloaked wizards bowed before Primus.

"Were you able to obtain the Minister's schedule?" a sinister voice asked.

"Yes," one of the wizards replied.

"Good. I will not accept failure again. You were supposed to have killed the Minister at the ball. I expect him dead by the end of the week."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.


	16. Primus Strikes Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Harry Potter.

A cool air blew through the streets of London but it didn't bother the Minister of Magic for he had thought ahead and placed a heating charm on his robes. It felt like a warm spring day for him. And he almost felt sorry for the Muggles that were all bundled up. A few of them looked really, really cold but that was not his concern. His priority was the attack at his own ball. The audacity of the dark wizards was unbelievable. No one stepped forward to claim responsibility for the attack and there was no hard evidence to definitely state which dark wizard was behind the attack. In all likelihood it was probably Primus. He was the only one with the gumption and resources to make such a bold move against the Ministry. His personal security had doubled, reinforced with both Aurors and MLE's.

Today he had a very busy schedule filled with meetings. He just finished his first meeting with the Muggle Prime Minister. The man was expressing his concern about the increase in use of magic in the Muggle world. As the Minister of Magic, he was well aware of that fact and was doing his best to stop the misuse of magic. Did the Muggle think he did nothing all day? Just because there were more Muggles than wizards didn't mean that he had any less work than the British Prime Minister. The insinuation that he was not doing his job properly had been quite vexing and left him in a sour mood.

His mood was worsened by the fact that the nearest apparition point was two blocks away from Downing Street and he had to walk there. Magical use was not allowed near Downing Street and a previous Minister of Magic had set up many wards to protect the Muggle Prime Minister from any wizard wishing to harm the Muggle. The wards blocked apparition and port keys. He hated walking the streets of the Muggle world. They were clueless idiots that never paid any attention to what they were doing. They were even worse now that they had that square piece of metal thing that they always spoke into or played with. Three had already bumped into him. He could see the entrance to the building with the apparition point up ahead and he let out a sigh of relief. His burden of the day was almost finished with.

Suddenly, his security detail in front of him slumped to the ground. His Aurors went into action but he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder followed by two other sharp pains in his chest. His body lurched backwards from the impact of something and he fell on the ground not understanding what had happened. There were no other wizards around and there were no flashes of lights or spells that he had seen. His hand moved automatically to his chest and touched something wet and sticky. He pulled his hand away to see it was covered in blood. He was bleeding. He didn't understand what had happened but he was slowly losing strength. He felt an Auror pulling him somewhere and he looked up at the man's face. The wizard looked scared.

The Minister felt the darkness pulling at him. The wizard started saying something but he didn't understand what it was. The pain in his chest was immense and breathing was becoming a serious challenge. He couldn't concentrate on his surroundings anymore. The only thing he knew for sure was that there was no pain in the darkness. He closed his eyes and let the darkness take him.

* * *

Ginny stared at Marietta's empty desk. The Minister had been assassinated six hours ago but she wasn't here. Their editor had called in all of the staff of the _Daily Prophet_ to work on that story. They were going to be publishing a special edition in the afternoon dedicated entirely to the former Minister. They had each been assigned a different facet of the story to work on. Ginny had been assigned to write the history of the Minister. Where he came from? What he studied? How he became Minister? It was long and boring especially since she couldn't publish any juicy details. She knew two of her co-workers were posted at the Ministry to keep track of the latest developments on the case. Marietta was supposed to be writing an analysis of his term as a Minister. Another colleague was trying to interview his widow and family.

The Order had assigned Ginny to find out who Marietta's informants were and she had zero information so far. She had lost herself in her grief over Neville but it was time to pick herself up and move on. He would want that. He wouldn't want her to keep living the way she had been. It was time to show her Gryffindor bravery and start the process of moving on. Neville will always hold a special place in her heart but there was nothing she could do for him now. The Order needed her help and she would complete the task that was assigned to her.

Her editor emerged from her office and with a sonorous spell her voice was heard on the entire floor, "I want all your articles on my desk in the next 10 minutes."

Ok, maybe she needed to focus on finishing her article first then start her trying to figure out Marietta.

Eight minutes later, Ginny was coming out of the editor's office after having submitted her article when she bumped into Marietta.

"You're here," Ginny said surprised.

"Yeah," Marietta responded. Ginny thought the witch looked strangely happy. She had heard from some of the other reporters that Marietta had a steady boyfriend and sometimes the witch would skive out of her duties to spend the day with him. Maybe she had done the same thing again.

"The boss wants our articles now," Ginny said trying to make conversation with her.

"I got it," she said waving some parchment in the air.

Ginny watched the witch walk into the office and close the door behind her. Ginny was heading back to her desk when she heard Claudia, the witch that works on arranging all of the articles in the paper, talking about the new flat that Marietta help her find. A light bulb went off in Ginny's in head.

She waited by her desk for fifteen minutes before Marietta finally returned to her desk and Ginny walked over.

"Hi Marietta," Ginny said in a friendly tone.

The witch looked at her cautiously and Ginny continued talking.

"I heard you helped Claudia find a flat. I need to find one. I can't spend another minute with my brother. I need a place to myself but I have no idea about magical flats in London. Where are the good ones? What cons should I look out for? What are the rental agreements like?" she said.

Marietta sighed, "I'm sure your brother's can help you with that. Doesn't your brother Percy have that nice place in Westbrook?"

"My brothers will probably tell me to move in with them if I'm having trouble with Ron and Harry. They are an absolute waste of time. I need a place for a witch like me. Could you help me flat hunt?" she asked. "Please?" Ginny added using her best puppy dog face that always worked on her brothers.

Marietta rolled her eyes, "I feel like I'm going to regret this but ok. Clear out your schedule on Saturday. I know a few good places that are actually open at the moment."

"Great! Thank you so much Marietta," Ginny said jumping up and down with a sequel. "I owe you one."

Marietta smirked, "You certainly do."

* * *

Hermione was seated in between Harry and Seamus in the Auror conference room at the Ministry. The Deputy Minister of Magic, who had now been made the Minister of Magic after the death of the previous Minister, had called a meeting with all the Aurors to discuss the incident. Auror Mayweather was ordered to give her preliminary report on the assassination. She was able to determine that the Minister was killed with a Muggle high powered rifle, something that had never happened before. Even though they managed to apparate and get the Minister to St. Mungo's the damage caused by the bullets had been tremendous and he was already dead by the time the first healers saw him. Mayweather suspected that there was a leak of information on either the magical or Muggle side. The new Minister automatically assumed it was the idiot Muggles.

Harry leaned over and whispered in her ear, "It's our side."

Hermione nodded in agreement. A trained Muggle would have taken one clean head shot first not take out the two security guards and then the Minister. The placement of the wounds were also kind of sloppy for a professional. The location the sniper used would have been difficult for a normal person to access but easy for a wizard. For the moment, Ministry officials were band from going into the Muggle world until they could develop a protection ward against Muggle weapons.

At that point Harry leaned over and asked Hermione, "So a wizard can't bring a gun into the magical world?"

Hermione snorted and the whole room turned to look at her. She felt like she was back at Hogwarts and Harry was getting her into trouble again.

Auror Mayweather continued on with her presentation about the scene and the three Aurors and two MLE's they lost in the assassination.

The New Minister was understandably furious. He fired Kingsley on the spot which quite frankly was a stupid thing to do since Auror Potwinkle was placed in charge. Hermione had never liked him and the feeling was mutual. Ever since she showed him up on a few cases he had been out to make her job as difficult as possible. She suspected her job was about to become ten times worse.

After a gruelling four hour lecture by the new Minister they were dismissed to go back to work. On the way to their desks, Millicent Bulstrode pulled them aside.

"This isn't right," she insisted.

"I know," Hermione said. Millicent was an Auror and a good one at that. Hermione had never appreciated the Slytherin traits but Millicent was a great example of what happened when you put those traits to good use.

"That was all bullocks! Kingsley is much better than that bumbling idiot Potwinkle. He was a Hufflepuff. I don't know how he passed the Auror Test," she complained to them.

Seamus snorted in agreement. It was rare for him to agree with Millicent.

"The idiot actually believes we don't have a mole, when it's glaringly obvious there are moles on both sides. We need to find the mole," Millicent continued.

"How do we know the mole isn't you?" Seamus asked. Hermione rolled her eyes. This was how the fight always started. Either Millicent or Seamus accused the other of doing something wrong.

If Millicent's eyes could kill, Seamus would be toast at the moment. She stepped up close to him and in a deadly voice said, "Because if it was me, I'd be the Minister of Magic by now,"

Seamus opened his mouth to respond but Harry intervened, "Ok, no more arguments. Let's focus. How do we find the mole?"

A wicked smile crossed Millicent's face, "Simple, we set them up?"

"How?" Seamus asked.

"Must I do all the plotting?" Millicent asked in frustration.

"You are the Slytherin among us!" Seamus pointed out.

"Does that mean Gryffindors are incapable of using their brain and before you point at Hermione we all know she should have been in Ravenclaw! The only reason she wasn't put there was because she doesn't hide behind her books," Millicent lectured Seamus.

"Can we drop the whole house thing please?" Hermione asked tiredly. "We're grownups now. Millicent and I will work on a plan and you two will execute it," she instructed.

"Hey! How come I have to do the dangerous work?" Seamus protested.

"Because we said so," Millicent replied crossing her hands in front of her chest.

Seamus reluctantly backed down muttering about being stuck with bossy witches under his breath.

"What are the four of your conspiring about over here?" Potwinkle asked appearing next to them. He surveyed each of them critically and it was like this that Hermione suspected that Potwinkle was much smarter than he led on.

"Just reminding Finnigan who the better Auror is," Millicent lied smoothly. It was a believable lie. There had been many shouting matches between Millicent and Seamus about who the better Auror was. Every time there was a training session the two went out of their ways to show the other up.

"I think it's time to end this silly rivalry between the two of you," Potwinkle said with a wicked gleam in his eye. "Bulstrode, you're Finnigan's new partner!"

"I already have a partner sir," Seamus replied quickly.

"Auror Granger is being reassigned," Potwinkle indicated to them.

"I am?" Hermione asked confused.

"Norway has requested some assistance with some training to bring their Aurors up to par. You're the lucky Auror assigned to the task," he said with a very wide smile that showed a perfect set of white teeth. Teeth that Hermione wanted to hex out of his mouth.

"Sir don't you think sending me to Norway is a bad idea at this time?" she questioned.

"Nonsense, I think Kingsley has encouraged you to overvalue yourself. There are plenty of competent Aurors besides yourself that can keep our country safe. Potter is a great example of that. You'll receive the details and your portkey this afternoon now get back to work."

"Yes sir," the four of them said and they scattered in various directions.

* * *

When Ginny arrived at the Manor, she found Draco sitting on the grand staircase staring blankly across the room. He looked like he had been spelled into that condition but Ginny suspected otherwise. She didn't know what possessed her but she sat next to him on the stairs.

"I don't see what's so captivating about this view?" she quipped.

"Then find another space to stare at," he drawled in his usual tone.

Ginny snorted. "I'm the one that had her boyfriend murdered and you're the one getting a baby but yet you look like it's the end of the world?"

"I never wanted a child," Draco spat. "I was supposed to be the last Malfoy. I was the end of this cursed line."

Ginny was surprised at his sentiments. She didn't realise how much he hated what he had. "What would happen to all of this?" she asked waving her hand around the room.

"I was going to leave it to the order," he admitted still staring at the opposite side of the room.

"And now that has changed?" Ginny questioned curiously.

"The general consensus is you leave your assets to your child so yeah the plan changed. It will all go to my child now," he said with a heavy exhale.

"That's not so bad," Ginny pointed out.

Draco turned to look at her for the first time, "Are you serious? Have you not seen the row of my ancestors upstairs?"

"Oh I have. Quite a few interesting characters. Just the other day I caught Hermione in a long debate with I think it's your Great, Great Grandfather, Nocturnis, about her being born to non-magical parents," Ginny said with a wry smile.

"You need an extra Great in there and they've been having that discussion for years," Draco said with a slight shake of his head.

"But he agreed with a few of her points," Ginny said.

Draco smirked, "Didn't you know, Hermione is a Malfoy Whisperer!"

Ginny giggled at the reference. It still surprised her how much Draco actually knew about Muggle life.

"Seriously, Hermione's been able to charm most of them with her magical prowess. They actually respect her ability to do magic so well even though she came from a Muggle family. It took her years to get there with them. I think she has everyone under her spell but my father," Draco further explained.

"That's surprising. Oh I should probably let you know. I'm moving out. I'm looking for a flat with Marietta on Saturday. I think it's a good way to get close to her and find out who her sources are," Ginny explained to him.

"Be careful. We don't know if her sources are the type that are willing to kill to remain anonymous. The apartment next to Natalie is available. I'll tell the landlord to expect you on Saturday. He's a huge fan of Harry Potter and I think you'll like it there very much. It's very you," Draco said.

"Very me?" Ginny questioned.

Draco gave her a tight smile and stood, "I better start getting everything prepared for the Order meeting. The last time something was missing, Victoria threw a huge fit."

* * *

Harry had been an Auror for a month and he honestly did not know how Hermione had done it for the last five years. He was constantly on the go. Harry estimated that he spent at most five hours a day sleeping and the other 19 working. He had zero social life. Ron was glad he had decided not to become an Auror. He actually got to enjoy life.

In an effort to make some progress on Primus's identity, Harry poured over Hermione's dream diary every night before he went to sleep. His dream of her dying had thankfully ended but the premonition of his death now hung over them. According to Hermione's records, the confrontation always happened in the Room of Requirement. They were always asked to meet Primus in that specific room so he concluded that the Room of Requirement held some form of significance between Primus and them. That led Harry to suspect that Primus was a former member of the DA. He asked Hermione for the list of members of the DA. He was going to quietly investigate each one. He already knew that one of the Creevey brother's had landed on the wrong side of the law. He would start with them and then work his way through the list.

Harry was worried about Hermione being sent so far away. He didn't know what Potwinkle was thinking. It was an awful decision to send one of your best Aurors away at a time when you needed every Auror on duty. Seamus had filled him in on the history between Potwinkle and Hermione and Harry wondered if Potwinkle was using his position to exact revenge or if it was something else. His gut told him it was something else. His gut told him this was part of a much larger scheme and he needed to figure out what the scheme was.

Mrs. Weasley called an Order meeting as soon as the news of the Minister's assassination broke. He had to lie to Potwinkle about investigating a possible lead to get out of the office. The man had a knack for appearing every time that day they were discussing something related to the Order or Primus and Harry didn't like it one bit.

* * *

Ron joined the other members of the Order in the ballroom for the meeting. It was extremely crowded. Every member had made an effort to attend. The entire room was set up classroom style with a small desk and chair in front and rows of chairs facing the table in front. Ron somehow got stuck in the middle of the back row seated in between Draco and Millicent. On the other side of Draco were Hermione and Harry. Ron tried to convince Draco to move but the Slytherin wasn't budging.

"I call this meeting of the Order of the Phoenix to order," Molly said firmly.

Fawkes appeared in a blaze of flames and landed in the middle of the table. His eyes scanned each member carefully before he turned to Molly.

"Everyone is aware what happened this morning. We'll observe a minute of silence in honour of the departed Minister of Magic. Please stand," she ordered.

Ron always hated these minutes of silence. Who determined when the minute was up? Was it really a full minute or did they just finish the moment when they felt like it? He would always stand and close his eyes but in five seconds he would end up opening them and scanning the room to see what the other people were doing. Most of the time, they were observing the minute. On the rare occasion he caught a few people doing other things, mostly it was children though.

The same thing happened again and at five seconds he opened his eyes and started scanning the room. Most of the wizards had their head bowed in respect but when he turned to look at Draco he found the man's grey eyes staring right back at him. Draco arched his eyebrow challengingly. Ron was thinking about a way to retaliate when Hermione hit both of them at the back of their heads. How she knew what they were up to when her head was bowed and her eyes were close was beyond him.

"On to business now," Molly said ending the minute of silence and moving onto the purpose of the meeting. "We need to step up investigating Primus. Kingsley you have the floor," she said to him.

Kingsley stood straightening his black robes. It was so odd to see him in something that wasn't the bright red Auror robes.

"I have been temporarily removed from the Auror's office but that could be an unexpected boost. It means I have time to personally investigate Primus rather than spend three quarters of the day doing paperwork. Obviously this means that I'm going to spearhead the Order's efforts to retrieve Primus. I'm looking for volunteers who are not Aurors to assist me," Kingsley stated.

Fred and George immediately put up their hands, "We're in," they said at the same time.

"I have something else in mind for you two," Kingsley revealed.

"Oooooooo, secret mission?" the twins both postulated together.

"No," Kingsley said shutting them down. "Auror Potwinkle is currently in charge of the Auror office and the first task he set about was settling a score with Hermione. In an hour she has to take a portkey to Norway to run a three month training course training the Aurors there. I want one of you with her at all times just in case Primus sees this as an opportunity to neutralise her."

"I don't need an au pair," Hermione spoke up.

"I didn't say you did. This is non-negotiable," Kingsley said.

"It's a waste of man power," Hermione retorted not giving up the fight yet.

"I don't view it as such. You will have one of the twins there with you at all times!" Kingsley repeated.

Hermione leaned back in her chair angrily and crossed her hands over her chest. It reminded Ron of their Hogwarts days. Ron heard Harry advise Hermione to just accept it and Draco seconded Harry's thought.

"I volunteer," Luna said getting the conversation back on track.

A bunch of the shop keepers, Bill, Charlie, Samantha, Alice, Katie, Neville, Snape and a host of wizards he didn't know volunteered quickly. Ron was busy setting up his Muggle adventure business. He had already decided to start with one tour to Australia. Doing it in London made no sense since any wizard could just walk out into Muggle London but going to Australia up the excitement factor. Having lived in Australia he knew exactly where he wanted to take his clients and he made several trips to Australia to sort out the paperwork with the magical authorities in Australia. That leg of the planning was complete but he had to work on marketing. He decided that he could do that and volunteer at the same time so he raised his hand.

"Anyone else?" Kingsley questioned. When no one else raised their hand he continued on revealing his plans, "All the volunteers will be assigned criminal targets to observe and report on. There will be a meeting after this meeting has concluded to draw up schedules of who is on duty when."

As soon as Kingsley sat down, Percy was on his feet. He was brimming with excitement which was quite a contrast to everyone else's sombre state.

"I have some good news," he said. "I've been promoted to Deputy Minister of Magic!" he revealed excitedly looking around the room. When everyone remained quiet, he frowned, "No congratulations?" he asked.

Hermione was the one to answer him, "Percy it's not that we aren't happy that you were promoted. There's no question about you deserving it, it's just the circumstances under which you earned the promotion. It hasn't even been 24 hours since the previous Minister was _assassinated_. These are very dangerous times."

Percy reluctantly sat down and Penelope linked her hands through his to comfort him. The next wizard on his feet was Snape.

"I too have some good news. Victoria is pregnant," there was a round of applause and congratulations and Ron swore he heard Draco mutter bitterly under his breath about Snape reverse engineering the potion that Natalie used to get Victoria pregnant. When the chatter died down, Snape continued, "As such she will not be duelling on behalf of the Order but she is available for strategy and planning meetings," Snape stated with that air of superiority.

Victoria who was seated next to him just rolled her eyes, "Kingsley, I can keep an eye on the Hogwarts students and professors for you. If I see anything suspicious, I'll let you know," she said.

Molly continued the meeting updating the members on the various items on the agenda.

After the meeting Ron met with Kingsley and the rest of the group. He noted that Hermione and one of the twins had already left the room. Harry joined them before Kingsley started their briefing about their targets.

"I know you have your list sir," Harry stated, "But I would like you to consider adding Cole to the list."

"Cole as in our Muggle contact?" Kingsley queried curiously.

"Yes, I think Ron would be the perfect person to tail him. He's lived as a Muggle and wouldn't stand out as a wizard in London," Harry suggested.

"What makes you suspect Cole?" Kingsley asked.

"He was the one that led me to that warehouse. I have this gut feeling that he's involved somehow," Harry explained.

"Ok, an Auror should always trust that gut feeling," Kingsley agreed and turned to Ron, "I'm assigning you to follow Cole. Harry can brief you about Cole but I have a two wizard policy when it comes to active surveillance, Luna will be working with you too," he instructed.

Kingsley then turned to the various shopkeepers from Daigon Alley, "I want you to keep a close eye on the wizards that enter Knockturn Alley and I want you to record, the dates and times that people enter, even if you don't know who it is, just record it as a wizard or a witch."

He went on to create a detailed list that covered the first month of surveillance. When the meeting finally ended, Ron made his way to the kitchen. Planning always made him hungry.

* * *

Ginny met Marietta early Saturday morning. Marietta had supplied her with a list of six flats to look at with viewing times already set up.

"Thank you for helping me," Ginny said.

"No problem, you're a fellow reporter," Marietta answered.

Ginny found she actually enjoyed flat hunting with Marietta. The witch had good suggestions about what she should want in a flat in a magical community. Things like asking about what wards were used to safeguard the flat and where is the apparition point for guests was, were things Ginny hadn't even thought to ask. Her questions consisted of was the fireplace connected to the floo network and if pets were allowed.

They got lunch in Daigon Alley after they looked at the fourth flat of the day that was located in said Alley. Marietta had planned it that way. They ordered their meals with two butterbeers and spoke about the latest fashions at Madame Malkin's Robes. Ginny then turned the conversation towards the Minister's assassination.

"The Auror office still hasn't released any information about who did it," Ginny said as she took a sip of her butterbeer.

"No they haven't," Marietta agreed.

"Do your sources have any idea who did it?" Ginny asked.

"Is it you asking or your Auror friends?" Marietta asked her candidly.

"Me, they don't tell me anything. They aren't allowed to," Ginny responded.

Marietta looked like she didn't believe a word Ginny said and she wondered if she was pushing too fast. She decided to back off.

"Look I am just curious. If it's going to be a problem forget I even asked," Ginny replied evenly.

She pulled out the list and focused on that instead, "We have three more flats to go shall we continue."

"We shall," Marietta responded.

Ginny realised she was going to have to work on gaining Marietta's trust. After the last flat, Ginny told her about the one Draco had recommended and asked Marietta to come with her to see it. She was relieved when Marietta agreed.

Ginny was completely blown away by how perfect the flat was for her. It was bright, with windows that overlooked a magical fountain in the courtyard. The fountain had little figurines that were charmed to play Quidditch. The fountain kept track of the score. It was amazing. She tried not to think about the fact that Draco had been 100% right. The only obstacle was that it cost most of her salary to pay the rent. When Draco said the landlord was a fan of Harry Potter he was not understating it. The may only wanted to know about Harry and she used her friendship with Harry to knock down the rental price. She just had to make sure Harry visited once a month.

As they were heading out into the gardens with the landlord so Ginny could take a better look at the fountain, she saw Natalie entering the building through the front entrance. Ginny wasn't supposed to know her so she ignored her. She was extremely surprised when the witch came over to talk to them.

She had a bunch of shopping bags floating behind her but it was only when she came to a stop right in front of her that Ginny realised it was really a house elf holding the bags. The poor creature was practically buried beneath them. Based on that scene alone, Ginny decided she didn't like her. She didn't understand what Draco saw in her. She seemed to represent everything he was trying to leave behind. Her robes alone probably cost three times Ginny's monthly salary.

"You're reporters from the prophet," she said. Ginny found it hard not to stare at the pregnant belly. Draco's son was inside there. "You need to write an expose about me," she said arrogantly.

"Excuse me?" Ginny asked confused.

"A feature length article on the front page should do," she continued.

"Who are you?" Ginny asked keeping up the pretence that she had no idea who the witch was.

Natalie's face started to turn red and the landlord intervened.

"This is Natalie Spellfire, she lives in the flat next to the one you looked at," he revealed.

"You're thinking of getting a flat here?" she asked aghast.

"I don't see anything wrong with living here?" Ginny replied ignoring her attitude.

"I'm going to be the next Mrs. Draco Malfoy. A Weasley can't live next to me," she stated hautily.

"Wait," Ginny said turning to Marietta in surprise, "Malfoy's gone through one wife already?" she asked confused.

Marietta laughed. "I think she means she's going to be the next Mrs. Malfoy as a general term since Narcissa Malfoy was Mrs. Malfoy as well. She is going to be the first Mrs. Draco Malfoy."

Ginny scrunched up her face, "Why would that be an achievement?"

"Since you're from a Muggle-loving family I'll have to explain it to you. The Malfoys are the epitome of wizarding society. You probably can't even understand how refined he is," she started to explain.

"Refined that doesn't even sound like the Malfoy I remember. I mean he can't be that refined if he knocked you up and didn't marry your right away," Ginny commented snidely.

"He did not want to stress me out. A wedding like ours will take months to plan. Madame Malkin told me the robe I ordered for the wedding will take three months to make. The material is rare and it costs 1,000 Galleons per metre," the blonde witch boasted.

Ginny rolled her eyes and turned to Marietta, "Seems to me like Malfoy's still a coward. She isn't even wearing an engagement ring."

Marietta giggled and Natalie looked most affronted.

Ginny turned to the landlord, "This poor witch will take the flat. I'll have to make sure my poor family comes to visit regularly."

Natalie turned up her nose, "I'll probably be fully moved into Malfoy Manor by then so I won't have to watch the standard of this place drop."

Ginny ignored her and followed the landlord back to his office to sign the agreement and make a deposit. She could see the fountain later. She would be living there soon anyway.

"Thanks for the help," she told Marietta when she was finished.

"Your welcome. In answer to your questions earlier, my source told me a dark wizard called Primus is responsible for the attack. In fact, he wants to meet with me. He wants me to publish his story since the Aurors refuse to release any information about him," she told her excitedly.

Ginny's forehead creased, "That sounds dangerous."

"My sources will keep me safe. After all I can't publish the story if I'm dead," Marietta naively pointed out.

"When is this to happen?" Ginny asked.

"I don't know," Marietta said with a shrug.

"Be careful," Ginny said.

"I will," Marietta said with a small smile.

Ginny reported the info to Kingsley as soon as she returned to the manor. He then went about excitedly barking orders at the volunteers present to watch Marietta.

Afterwards she ran into Draco again on the grand staircase of the manor, his face was flushed and his grey eyes were angry. Ginny thought he looked quite attractive.

"Is there a reason you told my baby mama I need to put a ring on her finger? You know I don't want to," he said angrily.

"I did not tell her that," Ginny replied calmly. She really disliked that woman.

Draco arched an eyebrow telling her he didn't believe her.

"I didn't. I may have made an offhanded comment about her not wearing an engagement ring to Marietta but I never told Natalie anything," Ginny insisted.

"Ginerva Weasley!" he said sternly and Ginny was surprised at the thrill of excitement that shot through her. She liked an assertive Draco. He was much better than the mopey Draco.

"Is there something on my face? Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked.

"No reason," she said looking away quickly. When she glanced back at him he had a sly smile on his face.

"You took the apartment," he said cockily.

She had the strangest urge to kiss him. She glared at him, shoved passed him and fled to her room. She closed the door to her bedroom and then leaned against it. She should not want to kiss Draco! When she vowed to move on, she hadn't meant so soon!

* * *

**Oslo, Norway**

Hermione frustratingly prepared her lesson for the next day. Any other time she would have appreciated the break she was getting but not when the wizarding community needed her the most. The citizens in Norway followed the law to a tee. It was why the Aurors here needed training from an experienced Auror who had actually battled dark wizards before. The most experienced Auror that she was teaching, who had been an Auror for fifty years, had only battled two drunks, who wanted to take a walk on the wild side, in his entire career. She was fairly sure, that the average criminal that she had been dealing with in London recently, could take out their entire Auror department singlehandedly.

To keep herself entertained, she played a game of figuring out which twin was with her and where they were watching her from. She had found George once in the bathroom and after the hex she put on him, they never did that again. Today she found Fred in her closet. This assignment was a complete waste of their time. There was no danger here. She hadn't seen anything that could even pass for illegal.

From what she heard from the twins, the Order was making remarkable progress in figuring out how the wizarding criminal underworld was working. Kingsley was going through the shop owners report every day and was able to pull out patterns of comings and goings of wizards and witches entering Knockturn Alley. He was so pleased with the results he wondered why he never had the Aurors do that before.

There was a knock at the door and Hermione stared at it. No one had knocked on her door for the entire month that she had been there, not even the twins, who had the habit of apparating straight into her Muggle flat when they wanted to talk to her. She drew her wand and cautiously approached the door. There wasn't even a peephole in the door because no one ever did anything wrong.

She opened the door and was met with a very large bouquet of sunflowers. The bouquet was so large if blocked the entire upper body of the person holding it. She wondered if perhaps this was one of the twins testing out a new joke product on her but the hand that held the bouquet had a slightly darker complexion than the twins milk white one.

"You're supposed to say something," Harry's voice said.

"Harry, what are you doing here?" Hermione asked.

"I came to see you," he said as if there was nothing more obvious in the world.

The flowers extended towards her and she took it from him. She transfigured a stack of newspaper in the corner into a vase and then levitated it to the kitchen sink. A flick of her wand turned on the water and when she was satisfied that it was full enough, she flicked her wand again and turned it off. She levitated the vase to the only table in the flat. She turned around to find Harry still standing awkwardly by the door.

"What are you still doing there?" she asked

"You didn't invite me in," he replied cheekily.

"Honestly Harry, you're not a vampire," she remarked.

Harry's eyes flashed with mischief.

"Don't answer that, just get inside," Hermione said thinking it was better to head off whatever Harry was going to reply with.

He walked in and she noticed the picnic basket in his hands.

"Are we going on a picnic?" she asked. "Because its night time and cold outside."

"No Dobby sent this. He was worried about you. He says you can't cook very well. When he heard I was thinking about visiting you this morning, mind you that was after I found out that Draco has visited you every week over the last month, I was forced to come with it," Harry explained.

"Why Mr. Potter you almost sound jealous?" Hermione teased.

Harry snorted, "Hardly Ms. Granger."

"So your visit isn't the direct result of finding out that Draco visits regularly?" she inquired with a mischievous smirk.

Harry shook his head in denial.

Hermione chewed on her bottom lip a moment in thought before continuing, "And what if I told you Luna's been here twice and even Ron visited with George once. Heck even Snape was here."

"Snape was here!" Harry exclaimed. "Seriously, am I really the last person to visit you?"

"Pretty much but you're an Auror Harry. If anyone understands it's me. It's a very bad time to be an Auror. Seamus sends me an owl every day complaining about Potwinkle and Millicent though I'm beginning to wonder if he's half in love with Millicent. The Gryffindor and The Slytherin, a love story," Hermione said picturing the headlines.

Harry chuckled, "They have a special type of partnership."

Hermione burst into giggles.

"Speaking of Millicent, I heard that she's in contact with you via e-mail. Pretty hard to imagine a Slytherin using a computer," Harry admitted.

"She's a half-blood," Hermione reminded him. "She is quite familiar with the Muggle world. Besides I doubt any wizard watching us would know how to hack our e-mails."

"True," Harry agreed. "How is the plan coming along?"

"Great. The intel from Kingsley has really helped refine it. The best deception is based in truth," Hermione explained to him.

"I think you're spending too much time with Slytherins," Harry joked light heartedly.

"Maybe you should try it. They are not all bad. There are quite a few things you can learn from them," Hermione replied reasonably.

"Who says I haven't already started. Draco and I seem to inhabit the kitchen at the same time every day," Harry told her.

"Wait you mean there is actually a time when Ron is not in the kitchen?" Hermione teased with faux shocked face.

A deep belly laugh left Harry and Hermione joined him, laughing until tears started to form in her eyes. She couldn't remember when the last time she had such a good laugh was.

"As soon as I get back, we're implementing it so you and Seamus better be ready," Hermione instructed him.

"We are," Harry assured him. "But let's stop talking about work. What is there to do around here?"

Hermione chewed on her bottom lip again. She was ashamed to admit that she spent all of her time either at the training facility or this small flat. She didn't want to admit it out loud but from the expression on Harry's face, he knew.

"Put on your coat, we're going to find the nearest pub and have some fun," he ordered.

Three hours later, after eating and having a few drinks at the pub, they stood in front of the door to her flat facing each other.

"That was the most fun I've had in a long time Harry," she reluctantly admitted.

She was looking up at him. His green irises looked happier than she had ever seen them. His eyes flicked down to her lips and her heart rate ticked up. She wasn't sure if she leaned closer, or he leaned closer, or they both leaned at the same time but suddenly his lips were on hers. Her brain stopped working at that moment, all her thoughts coming to a halt. The first thing she registered when her brain rebooted was Harry's lips were soft and she was actually kissing Harry back; her traitorous body moving on its own accord. She felt Harry's hands come up and cup her face as they kissed. When things started getting a bit more intense, Harry pulled away and rested his forehead against hers.

"Hermione," he said breathlessly, "I missed you."

"I missed you too Harry," she admitted as well.

Hermione got the impression that they were talking about a lot more than just the month she had spent in Norway.

Harry stepped away putting a little more distance between them. "I'm sorry but I have to go back, there's this raid…" Harry was explaining when Hermione put her index finger to his lip to silence him.

"I already told you I understand. I'll be back in two months Harry. Two months that's all we have to wait. We survived seven years. Just concentrate on staying alive. I **will** be back."

Harry nodded and then in one large stride stepped towards her again and pulled her against him to kiss her passionately. Just as quick as it started, it stopped. He stepped back and with a sad smile, he apparated away.

Hermione immediately felt lonely but she pushed it away choosing instead to focus on the fact that Harry had actually kissed her! She hadn't expected that. She knew that she had a crush on Harry before he left. Since he came back she hadn't had a chance to figure out how she felt about him but after that kiss there was doubt that she still liked him.

She opened the door to her flat and found Fred and George on her couch, watching TV and eating the food that Dobby had sent for her!

"How was the date?" George had the gall to ask while Fred made some disgusting kissing sounds.

Hermione drew her wand angrily and hexed them both back to England. The next day she received a call from the landlord informing her that the police had come about that day asking about weird flashes of light from her flat. She feigned ignorance while smiling like a Cheshire cat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> This story was originally posted at Fanfiction.net and Portkey. I don’t advise anyone to read the chapters there as I'm going to be revamping all of the chapters. As I post here, I will update the chapters over there.


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